Accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione returns to a Manhattan courtroom for a seventh day Friday as his lawyers work to have evidence excluded from his state murder case.
The marathon hearing will determine what evidence will be used against him when he goes to trial on charges of shooting Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, on a Manhattan sidewalk last year.
On Thursday, two supervising officers who were at the McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where Mangione was detained five days after the shooting, testified that police did not need a warrant to search his backpack.
“It’s an emergency order in Pennsylvania,” Lt. William Hanelly testified. “The police can search the person and their objects.”
The defense has questioned whether Altoona officers overstepped their authority, took shortcuts and failed to follow procedures in their rush to help solve a case that was attracting national attention.
Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for an evidentiary hearing on December 11, 2025, in New York.
William Farrington/Pool/New York Post via AP
Hanelly testified that he offered the responding officer a free sandwich from his favorite local spot, Luigetta’s, if he would actually apprehend the alleged killer.
“If you catch the New York City shooter, I’ll buy you Luigetta’s for lunch,” Hanelly said in a text message. Patrolman Joseph Detwiler. The text included a winking emoji because, Hanelly testified, it seemed “absurd” that the suspect could be sitting at a fast food place five hours from the shooting scene.
The hearing is expected to continue into next week and a written decision is expected from Judge Gregory Carro in January.
