Luigi Mangione’s lawyers request dismissal of federal charges in UnitedHealthcare CEO assassination

Attorneys for Luigi Mangione, who was charged with the December 2024 assassination of Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare at the time, have requested that a New York federal judge dismiss several charges from the indictment against him, including the sole count that could result in the death penalty. 

In documents filed Saturday in Manhattan federal court, Mangione’s legal team argued that certain evidence should be excluded from trial. 

Attorneys claim his backpack was illegally searched, and that he was never Mirandized

The attorneys have argued that the search of Mangione’s backpack was conducted without a warrant in violation of his constitutional rights, according to the Associated Press.

His defense team said Mangione was not informed of his Miranda rights before he was questioned by officers after his arrest. He was taken into custody shortly after Thompson was fatally shot outside a Manhattan hotel upon his arrival for his company’s annual investor conference.

Miranda rights are a set of warnings police must give to a suspect in custody before interrogation, stemming from the 1966 Supreme Court case Miranda v. Arizona.

Mangione, a 27-year-old Ivy League-educated member of a prominent Baltimore family, has pleaded not guilty to both federal and state charges in connection with the December 4 shooting. Fox News reported that when Mangione's grandmother died, she left $30 million or more to her family on the condition that any grandchild “charged, indicted, convicted of or pleads guilty to a felony" would not receive an inheritance.