The unmasked accused killer, whose face was instantly recognizable from photos in news reports and countless social media posts and T-shirts, and even the big screen at a rock concert, made an intensely personal appearance in Manhattan federal court on Thursday afternoon.
Luigi Mangione had looked a touch raggedy in the mugshot taken in Pennsylvania after his arrest, but now he was clean-shaven and his hair looked newly trimmed. The 26-year-old software engineer was no longer wearing the orange prison uniform he had on earlier, when he stepped off an NYPD helicopter onto the downtown Manhattan pavement crowded with cops and officials.
His lawyers had provided him with a black quarter-zip sweater, white shirt, and khakis that seemed to be what he might have chosen on his own. He entered the courtroom looking like exactly what he is: a former high school valedictorian and Ivy League graduate from a wealthy family whose life was altered irrevocably when he allegedly shot and killed Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk as the UnitedHealthCare CEO walked to a Dec. 4 investors’ conference.
One difference was the shackles on his ankles, though they did not seem to hamper him as he made his way to a chair between the two members of his legal team—Karen Friedman Agnifilo and her husband, Marc Agnifilo. She had arrived on crutches, having torn an ACL. Her husband also represents Sean “Diddy” Combs in ongoing proceedings at the same courthouse.
The Agnifilos had expected to appear with their client a block away, in state court, for a 2 p.m. arraignment on a grand jury indictment for murder and terrorism. But at 1 p.m., Mangione was served with a federal arrest warrant and taken to federal court, where a grand jury had yet to hear the case. He was brought into courtroom 26a to appear before Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker on a criminal complaint sworn to by an FBI agent
“All of a sudden we are here,” Friedman Agnifilo said, noting that in 30 years practicing criminal law, “frankly, I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Among other things, the agent had alleged that along with a handgun and a silencer, Mangione had been carrying at the time of his arrest a handwritten letter addressed, “To the Feds.” The feds had now responded with the complaint, a copy of which appeared to be on the defense table.
The most serious of the listed charges is a violation of United States Code Section 1111(a), murder with the use of a firearm. The major difference from the top state charge is the penalty. New York State does not allow capital punishment. “Death penalty eligible,” is how Friedman Agnifilo described the top federal charge.
If Mangione was chilled by that, he gave no sign of it as he skimmed over the complaint while awaiting the start of the proceedings. He had turned angry and shouted about injustice when he was led into a lockup in Pennsylvania. But he remained subdued in court, appearing to keenly understand the seriousness of the moment. He did not flash the famous smile captured by a hostel surveillance camera after a young woman at the counter convinced him to lower his mask, thereby giving the cops—unknowingly—a big break in the case.
He rose and stood with his hands folded before him when the clerk announced the judge’s entry by calling out “All rise!” The clerk then announced the case that the feds had stepped in to grab first.
“24 MAG 4357. U.S. versus MANGIONE.”
After inviting everyone to be seated, the judge asked Mangione routine questions such as whether he understood his rights and the charges against him. He leaned forward toward the microphone each time and replied with a crisp “yes.”
The judge asked if the defendant was asking for bail and Friedman Agnifilo replied not at this time. Friedman Agnifilo said, “I’d like to seek clarity from the government” about the charges. The state’s allegation of terrorism suggested her client was seeking to install fear in a group of people. But the feds, who are more often the ones to allege terrorism, were only alleging that Mangione intended to kill Thompson as the CEO of a major health insurer.
The judge said that was beyond the scope of this arraignment and suggested the defense and the prosecution should meet to discuss the issues arising from the double prosecution for one murder.
Some clarity came from a statement issued by the office of acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Edward Kim.
“Mr. Kim also thanked the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which has brought a separate prosecution against MANGIONE, which is currently expected to proceed to trial before the federal case.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg addressed the issue at a press conference.
“I’ll let the Southern District of New York speak for itself about their plans, but I do want to note that speaking generally, we’ve had state prosecutions and federal prosecutions proceed as parallel matters, and we are in conversations with our law enforcement partners.”
By the end of Thursday’s federal proceeding, no date and time had been set for arraignment on the state charges. But it is sure to come. And Bragg has been assured that his office will go first. The feds will then be waiting with their death-eligible case.
As Mangione left the courtroom, still looking collegiate in shackles, you had to wonder how Luigi fans—including those who cheered when his face flashed on a screen at a Boston concert—will react if he ends up on death row for killing a 50-year-old health insurance executive who happens to have also been a high school valedictorian.
Mangione continued out the door without looking back. A court officer handed Marc Agnifilo a paper bag containing the orange prison uniform that Mangione had been wearing when he flew into a city where the state and federal prosecutors both want to go after him.
