When last seen publicly in December in a Manhattan courtroom, Luigi Mangione both pleaded not guilty to murder and spawned a sellout of the burgundy sweater he was wearing.
Since then, the 26-year-old Towson native and 2016 Gilman valedictorian accused of killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, has been the silent center of a much-watched case, an outlaw hero to some who share his apparent rage at the health insurance industry.
But the silence is lifting. Not only is Mangione due in court again on Friday for a pretrial hearing, his defense lawyers last week launched a website to deliver a statement from him, provide links to the criminal cases against him in three different courts (along with maps to the courthouses for upcoming hearings) and answer questions such as how to contribute to his defense fund (GiveSendGo) or send him photos (Shutterfly and FreePrints).
“Please note that every photo that is received is screened and reviewed by law enforcement,” the website warns, perhaps cognizant of how this particular inmate at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn has drawn a fan base attracted to the often shirtless personal photos of him that have surfaced.
Creating a personal website may be an unusual strategy, with defense attorneys generally preferring their clients maintain a public silence to avoid damaging ongoing court proceedings, but as legal observers say, this is an unusual case.
“This case has touched a nerve,” said David Jaros, a University of Baltimore law professor. “This is a case that has inflamed the public.
“As a strategy, is this an attempt to shape the jury pool?” he asked.
There is a range of answers to that, according to members of the Baltimore legal community. Some said the website could be used to generate more sympathy for Mangione, particularly among those who might be called to jury duty, others saw it as a practical way to manage the already intensely followed case.
“It’s all about the jury pool,” said Andre Davis, a retired federal and state judge.
He said it’s hard enough to select a fair and impartial jury, let alone when a case has as high a profile as this one.
“Judges don’t want to be put through the wringer, spending five weeks choosing people,” Davis said.
“The first question is, “Have you heard about this case?’” he said. “People are paying attention to this case. Once you have a website, it just expands in the consciousness.”
The case has been compelling from the start: A brazen shooting Dec. 4 in Midtown Manhattan of the CEO of the largest health care insurance company, captured on security cameras. A manhunt that led to the arrest Dec. 9 in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., of Mangione, part of a well-known Baltimore rags-to-riches, or at least Little Italy-to-Hunt Valley family.
Details quickly emerged over why Thompson may have been targeted, with bullet casings found on the scene to have “deny,” “defend” and “depose” on them, similar to a book title about how insurance companies avoid paying claims.
Then there were Mangione’s previous social media posts about his struggles with Lyme disease and spinal issues requiring surgery, and a notebook found on him that, according to a federal indictment “contained several handwritten pages that express hostility toward the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular.”
Davis and others noted what he called “extremely strong” evidence in the case that could limit the defense team’s options.
“Based on my understanding of the evidence, the only defense is [a Not Criminally Responsible] defense, an insanity plea,” said Baltimore attorney Steve Silverman. “I’m just speculating, my guess is that Luigi probably shut down his lawyers from filing that defense for whatever reason.
“The only thing I can come up with is he is now shooting for jury nullification,” he said. “He’s trying to stay in the press, stay the martyr that has fascinated so many people.”
Neither prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office nor Mangione’s defense attorneys could be reached for comment.
Mangione’s attorneys are Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former chief assistant DA in the Manhattan office, as well as others in her firm, including her husband Marc Agnifilo, recently in the news as the lawyer for the music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs in a racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking case. The rapper is housed in the same Brooklyn detention center as Mangione.
That Mangione’s lawyers created a website for him could simply be a way of acknowledging the level of interest in the case — and managing it.
“It’s a smart tactic,” said Baltimore attorney William H. “Billy” Murphy[ Jr. “Now there’s a place where the public can take their comments.”
And perhaps, he suggested, a place where the defendant’s own comments can be more carefully crafted, noting the December outburst by Mangione as he was taken into a Pennsylvania courthouse for an extradition hearing. “It’s completely out of touch,” he yelled, “and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and the lived experience.”
“Mr. Mangione spoke out of turn when he was being taken into a courtroom,” Murphy said. “His lawyers want to make sure that doesn’t happen again. The lawyers want to manage all of that to protect the client from hurting himself.”
Doug Colbert, a University of Maryland Law School professor, said the website could counter what he sees as the prosecution’s advantage in getting their view of the case out to the public.
“It’s evening out the playing field,” Colbert said. “An accused person has the right to communicate with the public. The average defendant is only going to be able to communicate in the courtroom.”
Colbert said New York prosecutors, such as the former mayor and Assistant U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani, have a history of making blunt statements to the media about ongoing cases.
“This is what the accused are up against,” Colbert said.
And indeed, Friedman Agnifilo has made the point of how government officials were making a “spectacle” of Mangione with such tactics as “the biggest staged perp walk” she said she’s ever seen, complete with assault weapon-bearing law enforcement officers and Mayor Eric Adams, who for now remains under indictment for bribery and campaign finance violations.
Mangione’s website, at the moment is fairly “bland and safe,” Jaros said.
“It is notable there is very little substance about the issues involved,” he said, “about health care or the elements of the crime.”
Instead, Mangione’s statement notes his gratitude for people writing and expressing support that “has transcended political, racial, and even class divisions.”
The website links to his legal fund, which as of Thursday was more than halfway to its $1 million goal. It also include a physical address to send him letters, with a gentle plea to refrain for now from sending him any more books because rules limit how many he can have at any point.
Links to information about the Federal Bureau of Prisons mail program, though, lead to a website that that says policy and forms are temporarily unavailable “as we implement the Executive Order on ‘Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.’”
With none of his charges, in New York, federal and Pennsylvania courts, having yet come to trial, it’s unclear if the website will continue to offer statements from Mangione.
Also unclear is how Mangione views the website, and his case in general.
“We’re approaching this as what do you want to do to maximize the chance of being found not guilty,” Jaros said, noting that there have been cases in which “the goal is to make a larger point.”
“I don’t know if Mr. Mangione’s first priority is being acquitted,” he said, “or getting his message out.”
Have a news tip? Contact Jean Marbella at [email protected], 410-332-6060, or @jeanmarbella.bsky.social.
