Mangione’s Lawyer Claims Rights Were Violated In McDonald’s Arrest

Evidence police turned up when arresting Luigi Mangione, accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, should not be allowed in court, his lawyer argues. Police making the arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa. failed to follow basic protocol, the defense attorney says, USA Today reports. Officers questioned and searched Mangione without reading him Miranda rights afforded by the Constitution, making any statements or evidence they uncovered then inadmissible in court, says the defense. The motion to suppress evidence is the latest turn in the case that has captured global attention as the celebrity suspect has racked up charges in two states and on the federal level. Court documents filed Friday provide new details about how police made the arrest. Mangione’s capture came at the end of a days-long manhunt for a suspect in the execution-style killing. Police celebrated the end to the search and touted evidence they found on him. Mangione had a gun in his backpack that investigators linked to shell casings at the scene of the Thompson's murder in Manhattan.

“Any reasonable person in [Mangione’s] position would have thought he/she was being restrained, detained and otherwise not free to leave,” writes Thomas Dickey, Mangione’s lawyer in Pennsylvania. "The curtailment of [Mangione's] liberty and the detaining of the Defendant at this time" violated the Fourth and Fourteenth amendments. The development in the case in Pennsylvania comes a week after Mangione’s Manhattan attorney argued in New York court that he had been unlawfully searched during his arrest and that she would try to have any evidence uncovered and excluded from court. The filing out of Pennsylvania offers new details on how Altoona police approached and detained Mangione. On December 9, at around 9:30 a.m., two officers arrived at the McDonald’s where Mangione had been for about 30 minutes.  The officers entered and blocked Mangione from leaving as he sat at a corner table by “forming a human law enforcement wall” around him, Dickey writes. The aggressive posture of the officers effectively detained Mangione, he says. Then officers told Mangione to provide identification and ordered him to put his hands on his head. “At no time did the two officers indicate that [Mangione] was free to go,” Dickey argues. “Nor did they explain the reasons as to why Defendant was being detained; other than that, he looked suspicious and/or overstayed his welcome as a customer at McDonald’s.” More police soon arrived. As many as 10 officers blocked him from leaving.