What to KnowSomeone tucked a heart-shaped notice of encouragement into socks packed for Luigi Mangione to put on to courtroom final month within the UnitedHealthcare CEO homicide case, prosecutors mentioned in a submitting made public on Wednesday.A courtroom officer intercepted the notice, which urged the jailed defendant to “know there are millions of folks wishing you luck,” Manhattan prosecutors wrote in responding to current requests from Mangione’s protection attorneys.They embrace a bid for him to get a laptop computer to evaluation authorized materials in his cell whereas he awaits trial within the December capturing demise of Brian Thompson, 50. Thompson was killed outdoors a midtown resort the place the well being insurer was holding an investor convention.
Somebody tucked a heart-shaped notice of encouragement into socks packed for Luigi Mangione to put on to courtroom final month within the UnitedHealthcare CEO homicide case, prosecutors mentioned in a submitting made public on Wednesday.
A courtroom officer intercepted the notice, which urged the jailed defendant to “know there are millions of folks wishing you luck,” Manhattan prosecutors wrote in responding to current requests from Mangione’s protection attorneys.
They embrace a bid for him to get a laptop computer to evaluation authorized materials in his cell whereas he awaits trial within the December capturing demise of Brian Thompson, 50. Thompson was killed outdoors a midtown resort the place the well being insurer was holding an investor convention.
Mangione, 26, has pleaded not responsible. A message looking for touch upon prosecutors’ submitting was despatched to his attorneys.
Objecting to the proposed laptop computer as a request for unmerited particular therapy, prosecutor Joel Seidemann wrote “special treatment to the defendant’s benefit was violated when (prosecutors) made accommodations for defendant’s fashion needs during the last court appearance.”
Most jailed defendants put on jail uniforms at routine courtroom dates when there isn’t any jury current, the prosecutor defined. Mangione, nonetheless, was allowed to alter into garments introduced by his authorized crew for the Feb. 21 listening to.
Mangione has attracted a cult following as a stand-in for frustrations over medical health insurance protection denials and hefty medical payments, and dozens of his supporters confirmed up for the listening to. One sported a inexperienced “Luigi” hat from the “Mario Bros.” online game franchise and plenty of wore inexperienced, the Luigi character’s shade, as a logo of solidarity.
Mangione himself wore a inexperienced sweater, “according to what his sympathizers have been calling for supporters to put on,” Seidemann famous.
Some elected officers and others have decried the fascination with Mangione as glorifying violence and vigilantism.
The notice — plus one other heart-shaped message addressed to somebody referred to as “Joan” — was hidden in a chunk of cardboard on the heart of a brand new pair of Argyle socks, Seidemann wrote. It’s not clear who wrote the notice or slipped it into the socks. The submitting didn’t say, and prosecutors later declined to elaborate.
Mangione donned the socks however later took them off “because he felt that ‘they did not look good,’” in response to Seidemann.
Mangione appeared in courtroom in loafers, his naked ankles shackled.
Along with the Manhattan case, Mangione faces federal prices in Thompson’s killing and state-level gun possession and different prices in Pennsylvania. He hasn’t entered any pleas in these instances.
