Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was told “don’t say a word” by his lawyer in court, following an outburst outside the hearing at a Pennsylvania courthouse.
Mangione is charged with murder in New York in connection with the Dec. 4 shooting outside the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan. But since he was arrested in Pennsylvania, where he faces allegations of forgery and possession of a weapon, Mangione must be extradited to New York before he can face charges there, a process he is contesting.
During a hearing on Tuesday, Dec. 10, ABC and CBS reported that when Mangione tried to speak up in court, his attorney, Tom Dickey, told the 26-year-old not to say a word.
Speaking to reporters following the hearing, Dickey was asked about instructing his client not to speak, to which the attorney responded, “I’m the lawyer, I’ll do the talking,” Fox reported.
When Mangione was brought to the courthouse on Tuesday, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, he yelled at assembled reporters before being pinned against a wall and then brought inside.
“It’s completely out of touch,” Mangione appeared to shout. “It’s an insult to intelligence of the American people and its lived experience!”
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Mangione will have two weeks to apply for a writ of habeas corpus in order to challenge the extradition. Prosecutors in Manhattan have 30 days to obtain a governor’s warrant from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to formally request extradition.
Following a multi-day manhunt, Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., after an employee called police after a customer reported a suspicious individual.
Authorities accuse Mangione of killing Thompson, who was shot outside a Manhattan hotel by a masked and hooded gunman.
Thompson, a Minnesota resident, had been in New York for an annual investors’ conference.
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