Suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione waives extradition. Here's what we know.
Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City on Dec. 4, waived his right to extradition at the Blair County courthouse in Pennsylvania on Thursday morning.
New York City police officers escorted Mangione out of the courthouse and flew him to New York, where he was indicted earlier this week. He is expected to appear in a state court for arraignment in New York either later Thursday or on Friday.
Days after the shooting in midtown Manhattan, Mangione was identified at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., where he was reported to local authorities and taken into custody. He has since been held without bail at a Pennsylvania state prison on charges for state crimes including carrying a gun without a license, forgery, falsely identifying himself to authorities and possessing “instruments of crime.”
Federal authorities have now filed murder, stalking and weapons charges against Mangione, according to a complaint that was unsealed Thursday. It is unclear when he would appear in court for the federal charges.
By waiving his extradition hearing, Mangione has voluntarily agreed to put his Pennsylvania criminal case on hold and return to New York for prosecution there. Among the charges he will face in New York include murder as an act of terrorism, which carries a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.
Why would Luigi Mangione want to ‘waive an extradition’?
Although neither Mangione nor his New York attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, have commented on the situation, David Sarni, a former NYPD detective and current adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told Yahoo News it’s not unusual that Mangione and Agnifilo filed to waive extradition in this case.
“Extradition takes place usually when the case is stronger in the other state and if the prosecution is willing to do the extradition hearing,” Sarni said.
Sarni said that since Mangione is facing more severe charges in New York, it wouldn’t be surprising if Pennsylvania already planned to defer him to the other state.
Waiving extradition prevents the Pennsylvania judge from having to go over the charges Mangione is facing in that state. Waiving extradition in Pennsylvania will also start the New York trial faster than having to sit through a Pennsylvania trial first, Sarni said.
Are the Pennsylvania charges dropped?
No, the Pennsylvania charges still exist against Mangione, even though his New York charges are more serious.
“They'll probably put that case on hold,” Sarni said. “If they wanted to prosecute it, and they want to go back and extradite [Mangione] from New York to there, they could do that also. But again, the severity of charges he's facing [in New York] are much more severe than in the common law of Pennsylvania.”
What has Luigi Mangione been charged with in New York?
Mangione faces one count of first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism and two counts of second-degree murder, including one that qualifies as an act of terrorism, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Bragg said that one of the counts of second-degree murder classifies as an act of terrorism because "this was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation.”
Mangione’s New York attorney, Friedman Agnifilo, is a former chief assistant attorney at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. She is married to Marc Agnifilo, who is an attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs in his federal sex-trafficking case.
What happens next?
Mangione will be extradited to New York.
Once he arrives in a New York state court, his fingerprints and photos will be taken, and since he has already been indicted, he will be arraigned on first-degree murder charges.
“I don't think the judge is going to let him out for any reason on bail or supervised release, given the fact his family does have money [and] he has already fled the city and the state after a crime that he's been accused of committing,” Sarni said.
How we got here
During a press conference announcing Mangione’s indictment on Tuesday, Bragg said Mangione had arrived in New York City by bus on Nov. 24 and checked in to a hostel on the Upper West Side using the name "Mark Rosario" with a fake New Jersey ID. On the morning of Dec. 4, Bragg said Mangione left the hostel around 5:30 a.m. ET and traveled to midtown Manhattan near the Hilton hotel. When Thompson showed up, Bragg claims Mangione “then took out a 9mm, 3D-printed ghost gun, equipped with a 3D-printed suppressor, and shot him once in the back and once in the leg."
Mangione was then found at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pa., on Dec. 9, with the same fake New Jersey identification and the 3D-printed ghost gun, according to authorities.
