The attorney for Luigi Mangione, who has been accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, slammed New York City officials for what she referred to as a “staged” perp walk for her client last week.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo said during Monday’s hearing during which Mangione pleaded not guilty to the state charges he is facing that she is concerned about Mangione’s ability to receive a fair trial. She said officials have been treating Mangione like he is a “spectacle” and “political fodder.”
“He was on display for everyone to see in the biggest staged perp walk I’ve ever seen in my career,” Friedman Agnifilo said. “It was absolutely unnecessary.”
Mangione was taken through a widely publicized perp walk on Thursday when he was brought from Pennsylvania to New York to face state and federal charges over Thompson’s killing. He was taken into custody five days after Thompson was shot and killed following a manhunt that ended in Mangione being arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, located in central Pennsylvania.
During the perp walk, Mangione was surrounded by heavily armed officers during a slow escort. It also featured New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D), who said he attended the perp walk because he wanted to look Mangione in the eye and send a “strong message.”
Friedman Agnifilo said Mangione has been cooperative with law enforcement, waived extradition and had already been in custody for more than a week before the perp walk occurred.
“There was no reason for the NYPD and everybody to have these big assault rifles that frankly I had no idea was in their arsenal and to have all of this press there, the media there, it was perfectly choreographed,” she said. “And what was the New York City mayor doing at this press conference? That just made it utterly political.”
“The mayor should know more than anyone of the presumption of innocence that he too is afforded when dealing with his own issues,” Friedman Agnifilo continued, referring to the charges Adams is facing in his corruption case, in which he has pleaded not guilty.
If convicted on the state charges he faces, Mangione could receive up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
He is also facing federal charges in the case, including murder through use of a firearm. That could potentially put the death penalty on the table if he is convicted.
