new york — A New York grand jury is beginning to hear evidence in the case. luigi mangioneThe suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, according to a person familiar with the case.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office began presenting the case on Thursday, seeking to convict Mangione. fatal shooting In Midtown Manhattan. The DA's office declined to comment on grand jury proceedings due to confidentiality.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul says she has spoken several times to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to ensure that Mangione is extradited quickly. he was arrested in Altoona on unrelated charges.
“I want to bring him back here to New York State and run him through our criminal justice system. Because that terrible attack happened on our streets, and the people of our city deserve that sense of peace that comes with this criminal.” “He was caught and if justice is served he will never see the light of day again,” Hochul said in an interview Thursday morning. “You can't murder a person on the streets of New York. Not now, not ever.”
Mangione is being held under maximum security at the Huntingdon State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. The Department of Corrections says he is not on suicide watch or in solitary confinement, but he does not get a chance to interact with other inmates. He also says that he has not been violent.
What happens next in the extradition process?
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First, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office must officially file charges against Mangione. Hochul said Thursday that the DA's office is working to ensure the prosecution will be “harsh.”
He said, “You don't want anyone, the defense attorney, to be able to attack the work you've done. You have to do it right.” “We expect this to be released any day now, and as soon as that happens, I am issuing a warrant for extradition.”
Next, Hochul planned to issue a governor's warrant, which Shapiro would also have to sign. A spokesman told The Associated Press that he was “ready to sign and process it immediately as soon as it is received.”
Under Pennsylvania law, a suspect can be detained for up to 30 days while authorities seek a governor's warrant.
Hochul said, “I will release it, he will sign it. But the judge has already fixed the hearing date for December 23. We will see if that date has to be postponed or not.” “The governor and I both want him brought back to New York as soon as possible. So there will be some legal activity on the defense attorney's part, but I believe the judge will say he is going back to New York. So we are Hopefully that happens any day now.”
Once the warrant is issued, Mangione will have to appear before a Pennsylvania judge to confirm that he is the person being sought in New York, either through fingerprints or DNA found at the scene. Through.
In some cases, suspects can be extradited within a matter of days. But if the defense challenges it, the process could drag on for several months. The defense has until Dec. 24 to file a petition in Pennsylvania to fight extradition.
Mangione's attorney says his client intends to plead not guilty and wants to examine the evidence police have.
“As lawyers, we need to look at it. We need to look at: How did they collect it? How much of it? And then we'll have our experts… take a look at that, and then we'll Will challenge the admissibility and challenge the accuracy of those results,” attorney Thomas Dickey said in an interview.
NYPD sources tell CBS News that once he is extradited back to New York, there are plans to upgrade the charges from second-degree murder to premeditated first-degree murder.
NYPD says evidence links Mangione to murder scene
Obtained by CBS News
As Mangione Fights extradition from Pennsylvaniainvestigators say they are Gathering a mountain of forensic and ballistic evidence arresting accused murderer UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson murdered,
So far, police say they have matched the gun found in his possession shelling at the scene And his fingerprints were collected on a water bottle and a KIND bar near Starbucks, Where the suspect was seen on surveillance video About half an hour before the shooting. Police also recovered a cellphone from an alley near the hotel and said the fingerprints matched.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News that Mangione had a spiral notebook with him when he was arrested Where he wrote about considering using a gun instead of a bomb to carry out an attack because it was targeted, accurate and did not put innocents at risk.
Theory working on the motive of murder There is hostility toward the health care industry, and officials believe it may be rooted in the debilitating back injury Mangione suffered.
Power Yoga Hawaii instructor Dorian Wright remembers a 26-year-old man coming to his studio last year and saying he was in pain.
“I remember with him, like a lot of people who come in with injuries, he would say to me at the very beginning of class or when we were doing certain poses, he would say, 'Oh, I can't do this. ,'” Wright said. “If I come over to accommodate them and help them, they'll say 'Oh, I can't do that, my back.' “I remember he said something about his back.”
Sources say that Mangione has not made any incriminating statement while in custody.
Contributed to this report.
