Luigi Mangione faces a new evidentiary framework for his state murder trial after Judge Gregory Carro ruled Monday that prosecutors may present a gun and a notebook as evidence tying him to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Carro’s decision, issued five months after he held a hearing to examine how police came upon the items, rejected a defense bid to exclude evidence the prosecution says connects Mangione to the killing. The judge described the gun and notebook as helping prosecutors show jurors both a possible murder weapon and motive, while also drawing key limits around other evidence tied to the same backpack search.
Carro said the prosecution could use at trial items logged as evidence after officers later inventoried the backpack’s contents at a police station. That inventory search, the judge said, fell within an exception to the U.S. Constitution’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, and it came after police obtained a search warrant hours afterward. Prosecutors say the inventory search produced a 3D-printed pistol that matches the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook that describes a desire to “wack” a health insurance executive.
But Carro also ruled that several items officers pulled from Mangione’s backpack before his arrest in Altoona could not be used. He excluded a loaded gun magazine, a cellphone, a passport, a wallet, and a computer chip, saying those items resulted from an “improper warrantless search.” He said New York law governed the matter and that officers had eliminated the justification for an immediate safety search once the backpack was moved out of Mangione’s “grabbable area” as other restaurant customers passed by.
The judge’s ruling highlighted how officers handled the backpack during the initial response. Police had arrived in Altoona after a 911 call about a man who looked like the suspected shooter. Body-worn camera video described an initial search that paused after officers found the gun magazine wrapped in a pair of underwear. Carro also noted that officers saw the notebook at that point but did not open it or read the writings then, according to the decision.
In the video record described in the ruling, Altoona Police Officer Stephen Fox told a colleague to pause the search and return to the station. The judge said that momentary decision likely preserved the prosecution’s ability to use the gun and notebook evidence because later inventory search records, including what prosecutors characterized as to-do lists and getaway plans, were admissible.
Carro further limited what the prosecution can use from the time police questioned Mangione before he was handcuffed. He ruled out some statements Mangione made when he was effectively in custody but had not yet been advised of his right to remain silent. The record described in the ruling said Mangione told police early on he did not want to talk, but officers engaged him for almost 20 minutes before he admitted he had given them a fake name and a fake New Jersey driver’s license.
The ruling comes as Mangione is scheduled to face a state murder trial that prosecutors say will begin Sept. 8, with a separate federal trial set for Oct. 13 that includes stalking charges. Mangione, 28, was arrested Dec. 9, 2024, five days after Thompson was killed outside a Manhattan hotel. Altoona, where he was arrested, is about 230 miles west of Manhattan.
Prosecutors have also cited surveillance and other evidence tied to the killing, which occurred Dec. 4, 2024, as the executive walked to his company’s annual investor conference. Police said a masked gunman shot Thompson from behind, and prosecutors say words including “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on ammunition, echoing a phrase used by insurers to describe claim-avoidance.
At Monday’s hearing, Mangione did not speak as Carro summarized the ruling. About two dozen of his supporters, some wearing “Free Luigi” T-shirts, crowded the courtroom gallery. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and could spend his life in prison if convicted in either case, the prosecution and court schedule indicate.