(NewsNation) — One year after the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the court is now weighing whether police violated alleged gunman Luigi Mangione’s Miranda rights.
During a pretrial hearing this week, Mangione’s attorneys have argued officers questioned him inside a Pennsylvania McDonald’s before advising him of his rights, and said any evidence from that encounter should be thrown out of his state murder trial.
Mangione was arrested in the fast-food restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after a national manhunt began for Thompson’s alleged shooter.
This week, crucial evidence, including police body camera footage and 911 audio recordings, was unveiled in court for the first time, providing a preview of both the state and federal cases against Mangione.
What are Miranda rights?
Miranda rights are the Fifth Amendment-based warnings that both state and federal officers must give before questioning someone in custody. These rights ensure suspects understand their protection against self-incrimination.
Under the law, the standard protocol directs officers to tell a person they have the right to remain silent, that anything they say can be used in court, that they have the right to an attorney, and that one will be provided if they cannot afford one.
If police fail to give the warning, any statements made may be excluded from trial under the constitutional exclusionary rule.
There are a few exceptions to the Miranda rule, which could allow prosecutors to use a defendant’s statements against them without proper warnings or a valid waiver.
These include the “routine booking exception” for standard administrative questions, the “public safety” or emergency exception for urgent situations, and the “crucial exception” that allows a suspect to voluntarily and knowingly waive their rights and submit to questioning.
Was Luigi Mangione given his Miranda rights?
Pennsylvania officers issued Miranda rights to Mangione, but not for at least 20 minutes after they began questioning him, and after Mangione told an officer he didn’t want to talk, evidence showed.
Police were called by a McDonald’s employee on December 9, 2024, who said customers flagged a man resembling Mangione as eating breakfast at the establishment.
Pennsylvania Officer Joseph Detwiler and Officer Tyler Frye were dispatched and initially approached Mangione, telling him that someone reported him as “suspicious,” video evidence showed.
They asked for his ID, and Mangione gave them a fake New Jersey driver’s license with a fake name, according to prosecutors.
Moments later, after frisking Mangione, Detwiler stepped away to communicate with dispatchers about the license, leaving Frye with Mangione.
“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 given his Miranda rights. By then, he had already admitted to giving the police a fake ID.
Detwiler said Mangione was “not in custody at this point.”
He was frisked again and then handcuffed. Detwiler testified that police at that point had decided to “detain” him for investigation, but that he wasn’t arrested until a few minutes later on charges of providing false identification.
Police searched Mangione’s backpack during the course of that arrest and found a 9 mm handgun and a notebook with potentially incriminating entries, among other items.
Detwiler testified that he neither told Mangione he couldn’t leave nor mentioned the New York shooting. Defense lawyers, however, have argued in court filings that officers “strategically” stood in a way that prevented him from leaving.
Luigi Mangione’s attorneys argue McDonalds interaction was illegal
Mangione’s attorneys contend the statements he made at the McDonald’s should be suppressed because officers started asking questions before telling him he had a right to remain silent.
They also argue that the backpack items should be excluded because police didn’t get a warrant before searching Mangione’s bag.
Prosecutors haven’t yet laid out their arguments for allowing the disputed evidence, but have said in court filings that the arrest and search were proper under law, and the case against Mangione remains strongly supported by the evidence.
The outcome of the hearing will be crucial in the case against Mangione. Without the statements or items seized during the McDonald’s search, prosecutors will face challenges to prove their case.
Mangione is charged in New York with second-degree murder, multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a forged instrument.
The maximum sentence for the state charges would be life without parole.
He is also facing a federal death penalty case and has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal jail in Brooklyn, since his December 2024 arrest. He has pleaded not guilty to both state and federal charges.
Mangione is expected to go to trial early next year as several ongoing pretrial disputes are yet to be resolved.
The fourth day of the pre-trial hearing
On the hearing’s fourth day, the 27-year-old Mangione appeared to follow the proceedings intently, at times leaning over the defense table to scrutinize papers or take notes. He briefly looked down as Frye was asked about a strip-search of Mangione after his arrest. Under the department’s policy, that search wasn’t recorded.
Federal prosecutors have maintained that the backpack search was justified to ensure there was nothing dangerous inside, and that Mangione’s statements to officers were voluntary and made before he was under arrest.
The Associated Press and NewsNation’s Anna Kutz contributed to this story.