Judge Rules Gun, Notebook Found in Mangione’s Backpack Admissible As Evidence

Luigi Mangione is alleged to have committed one of the most brutal acts of violence we’ve seen in ages. He walked up to a man he had no connection to, who wasn’t a political figure or even a particularly public one, and shot him in the back. Why? Reportedly, it was because of the actions of the company the victim ran, UnitedHealthcare.

While the insurance company did some absolutely skeevy crap, it wasn’t grounds for murder. 

Following the killing, Mangione was caught and arrested, and a gun and notebook were found in his backpack that tied him to the crime. His attorneys have tried to get that evidence thrown out, because of course they did.

Unfortunately for them, that didn’t work out for them.

A New York state judge ruled Monday that key evidence can be used in the murder trial of Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing a healthcare company CEO in New York in December 2024.

Judge Gregory Carro of the New York Supreme Court said prosecutors can use as evidence a gun found in Mangione’s backpack and notes detailing his frustrations with the healthcare industry.

Mangione faces trial in September on second-degree murder and other charges in the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Dec. 4, 2024. Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after Thompson was killed.

Carro ruled that some of the evidence found in the search of the backpack, which includes a loaded magazine for a handgun, a cellphone, a passport, a wallet and a computer chip, was unlawfully collected because Mangione was not in custody, but he did not have sufficient control over the backpack when it was taken and searched by authorities.

The gun and notebook, however, were found through a valid inventory search at the police station, according to the judge’s decision.

Some of that evidence being thrown out might well make the prosecution’s case a bit more difficult, but the inclusion of the gun and the notebook should mitigate that.

Mangione used a 3D printer to make his own firearm–a curious thing because he wasn’t prohibited from just buying one for any reason, though I suspect it was because he didn’t understand how gun tracing actually works–and the suppressor that he reportedly used for the assassination. The notebook has been described as a “manifesto,” which doesn’t sound like a good thing in a case like this, and its inclusion as evidence will likely do the lion’s share of the work proving Mangione did it.

I get that Brian Thompson wasn’t the most popular guy in the world, and that’s because of how his company handled business. While many think that Mangione should walk for that reason alone, it’s a troubling trend that some of these people are that eager to murder people they simply dislike.

If Mangione is convicted, he deserves every minute he spends in prison. He murdered a man who left behind a wife and children, and while there’s a lot of discussion on social media of a couple of so-called journalists with city hall-issued press passes talking about how those kids are better off without their father, that just adds to the troubling aspect of all of this.

I’m glad the key evidence was collected properly. People who do this shouldn’t walk due to a procedural screw-up.

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