(NewsNation) — Shooting suspect Luigi Mangione was in court for a high-stakes pretrial hearing Thursday, the one-year anniversary of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s death.
Mangione, accused of gunning down the health care CEO a year ago, is looking to have key evidence thrown out from the state case against him.
His lawyers want to block the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office from showing or telling jurors about items seized when Mangione was arrested, including a 9 mm handgun and a notebook with potentially incriminating entries.
Those items, the defense argues, were discovered during officers’ search of Mangione’s backpack without a warrant.
The defense is also working to get some of Mangione’s police statements — including one in which he allegedly provided a fake name to arresting officers — thrown out. Mangione’s lawyers say he spoke before police read him his rights.
Luigi Mangione hearing Day 3: Officer testimony, bodycam footage
Earlier this week, responding police officer Joseph Detwiler and other witnesses took the stand to recount Mangione’s arrest and the collection of evidence.
Thursday’s hearing shed more light on Mangione’s arrest, with the proceedings focusing on bodycam footage from then-rookie officer Tyler Frye.
The videos showed a conversation between Mangione, Frye and another officer at an Altoona, Pennsylvania, McDonald’s on Dec. 9, 2024.
“So what’s going on? What brings you up here from New Jersey?” Frye can be heard asking in the footage.
Mangione’s reply cannot be heard, but Frye told the courtroom it was “something along the lines of, he didn’t want to talk to me at that time.”
Later, Mangione told officers he was “just trying to use the Wi-Fi,” Frye testified. Officers can be heard asking for his name, whether he’d been in New York recently and why he was nervous.
The conversation continued for nearly 20 minutes before Mangione was told he had the right to remain silent, footage showed. During that time, Mangione admitted to giving fake identification to officers, told them his real name and watched officers move his laptop.
Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for an evidence hearing, Dec. 2, 2025, in New York. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool) 
Luigi Mangione is escorted into Manhattan state court in New York, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) 
Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, appears at Manhattan Supreme Court in New York City, Sept. 16, 2025. Steven Hirsch/Pool via REUTERS
Prosecutors haven’t yet laid out their arguments for allowing the disputed evidence.
Mangione’s team is aiming to bar prosecutors from using the evidence in both the federal and state cases against him. The next federal hearing is Jan. 9.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. If convicted, he could face life in prison or the death penalty.