A top New York City attorney has been hired to represent Luigi Mangione in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo will be representing Mangione in New York. The suspect is also facing charges in Pennsylvania and is currently fighting extradition to New York, CNN reported. Police sources believe Mangione took a train to Pennsylvania, where he was captured on Monday.
Agnifilo has worked in private practice since 2021 and has experience in New York City’s criminal justice system. She spent seven years as the chief assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Mangione’s supporters are donating thousands of dollars for “defense funds” that have been established for him. Amid fears the shooting suspect is being turned into a martyr, several fundraisers have been set up for him online, with one created by anonymous group ‘The December 4th Legal Committee’ surpassing more than $100,000 in donations on the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo by Sunday.
The group’s name is an apparent reference to the day the 26-year-old allegedly gunned down Mr Thompson in Midtown Manhattan.
Other campaigns soliciting donations for Mangione’s defense have been taken down by sites, such as GoFundMe, reported ABC News.
Why is Luigi Mangione only facing second-degree murder over UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting?
The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a brazen shooting on a busy Manhattan street has been charged with murder in the second degree.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested with a 3D-printed gun in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday morning following a six-day manhunt for the hooded shooter who gunned down the healthcare executive on a Manhattan street.
The gun matches three shell casings found at the crime scene and marked with “deny,” “defend” and “depose”, police officials said this week.
My colleague crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin reports:
Boss of UnitedHealthcare’s parent company pays tribute to ‘brilliant, kind’ Brian Thompson
The boss of UnitedHealthcare’s parent company has paid tribute to the “brilliant, kind man” Brian Thompson, days after he was gunned down outside his New York hotel.
Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Friday: “As Brian Thompson’s family, friends and colleagues mourn his killing, we are bearing a grief and sadness we will carry for the rest of our lives. Grief for the family he leaves behind. And grief for a brilliant, kind man who was working to make health care better for everyone.”
Chief of UnitedHealthcare’s parent company admits US’s health care system is flawed
The chief of UnitedHealthcare’s parent company has acknowledged the public’s “frustrations” with the US’s health care system, which he admitted is flawed.
Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Friday: “We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it.”
His remarks come days after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead in an attack that was allegedly fuelled by hatred of the system.
Paying tribute to Mr Thompson as a “brilliant, kind man”, Mr Witty also pledged his company would help to fix the issues. “We are willing to partner with anyone, as we always have — health care providers, employers, patients, pharmaceutical companies, governments and others — to find ways to deliver high-quality care and lower costs,” he said.
Mangione not under suicide watch
The suspect in the shooting is being held in his own cell under maximum security at Huntingdon Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania.
Luigi Mangione is not under suicide watch or in solitary confinement, according to CBS News. However, he does not get to interact with other inmates.
Mangione has not been violent while in jail, according to officials.
He is being held in a Pennsylvania jail pending his extradition to New York to face murder charges in connection to the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
No tips from Mangione’s family, cops say
NYPD officials said Luigi Mangione’s family did not send in any tips. That comes as their relative’s pictures were splashed all over news channels in the hours after the shooting.
Police said they received more than 200 tips as the manhunt for Mangione unfolded, but none came from family with the same name, according to USA Today.
It wwasn’tuntil the suspect was spotted in Pennsylvania that police swooped in to make an arrest in the case, nearly a week after the killing.
Luigi Mangione’s motive in doubt
Luigi Mangione’s potential motives in connection to the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson remain unclear, police say.
There is “no indication” that the shooting suspect, who is believed to have undergone back surgery last year, was ever a client of UnitedHealthcare, according to the NYPD’s Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.
He said that the findings don’t appear to indicate that Mangione had a grudge against Thompson, who was gunned down in Midtown Manhattan on December 4, but targeted the company for its size and because he had prior knowledge of a conference taking place.
“We have no indication that he ever was a client of UnitedHealthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest healthcare organization in America,” he told NBC New York.
NY bail bondsman discusses Luigi Mangione arrest
WATCH: Will the Healthcare Industry Change After Death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson?
UnitedHealthcare didn’t insure Luigi Mangione
UnitedHealth Group, the parent company to UntiedHealthcare, said that Luigi Mangione was not a client of the health insurance company.
There is no record that the 26-year-old shooting suspect was ever insured by the company, UnitedHealth Group told NBC News.
Police also confirmed that there is “no indication” that Mangione was registered with UnitedHealthcare, whose CEO was murdered on December 4 in Midtown Manhattan.
“We have no indication that he was ever a client of United Healthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth-largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest health care organization in America,” Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York.
Mangione’s defense fund surpasses $100k
More than $100,000 has been raised to pay for Luigi Mangione’s legal bills as he faces charges in both Pennsylvania and New York.
The December 4th Legal Committee launched the public appeal on Christian fundraising site GiveSendGo, which garnered the vast sum after the 26-year-old was changed in Altoona, Pennsylvania on Monday. The fundraiser has a goal of $200,000.
“We are dedicated to ensuring that he gets a fair trial with competent legal counsel,” said Carol Sherman, an organizer with the December 4th Legal Committee.
The group says that proceeds will go to “other political prisoners in the US” if Mangione’s charges are dropped, or he rejects the funds.
Source: independent.co.uk