(NewsNation) — The spokesperson for a group that set up a legal fund for Luigi Mangione, the accused killer of then-United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, believes Mangione is a “hero.”
Sam Beard, spokesperson for Dec. 4th Legal Committee, defended the creation and existence of the fundraiser to assist costs associated with the legal defense of Mangione’s three pending criminal cases.
“Luigi Mangione is a hero, and everybody knows it,” Beard told NewsNation’s “Banfield” on Wednesday.
“Brian Thompson’s killing seems to me, without a doubt, to be, to the average American, the most celebrated since that of Osama bin Laden,” he said.
The fund has raised more than $1.3 million dollars on “GiveSendGo,” and is contributing to legal fees for Mangione, who will be back in court Thursday.
Beard told “Banfield” that Mangione is supported by hard-working Americans across the political spectrum, and not out of “lust for political violence” but a dislike of the “cruel and maddening” U.S. health care system.
“For them, the condemnation of luigi’s acts as murder or assassination rings somewhat trivial when put beside the completely legal yet fundamentally unjust death that result from the health care claims that are denied every day in this country in the name of shareholder value,” Beard said.
Mangione’s team is looking to block the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office from showing or telling jurors about some items on his person when he was arrested. That includes a 9 mm handgun and a notebook in which Mangione allegedly wrote about wanting to “wack” a health insurance executive. The trial will continue Thursday.