New York<\/a> murder case, convinced police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, that he was the man wanted in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan five days earlier.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s him, dude. It\u2019s him, 100%,\u201d an officer was heard saying on body-worn camera video from Mangione\u2019s arrest on 9 December last year, punctuating the remark with expletives as the officer combing the bag, Christy Wasser, held up the magazine.<\/p>\n
Wasser, a 19-year Altoona police veteran, testified on the fourth day of a pre-trial hearing as Mangione sought to bar prosecutors from using the magazine and other evidence against him, including a 9mm handgun and a notebook found during a subsequent bag search.<\/p>\n
The testimony shed light on the critical minutes after Mangione was spotted at the McDonald\u2019s and the sometimes unusual steps police officers took in collecting evidence critical to tying him to the crime.<\/p>\n
Mangione\u2019s lawyers argue the items should be excluded because police did not have a search warrant and lacked the grounds to justify a warrantless search. Prosecutors contend the search was legal and that police eventually obtained a warrant.<\/p>\n
Wasser, testifying in full uniform, said Altoona police protocols require promptly searching a suspect\u2019s property at the time of an arrest, in part for dangerous items.<\/p>\n
On body-worn camera video played in court, Wasser was heard saying she wanted to check the bag for bombs before removing it from the McDonald\u2019s. Despite that concern, she acknowledged in her testimony Monday that police never cleared the restaurant of customers or employees.<\/p>\n
Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. He appeared in good health on Monday, pumping his fist for photographers and chatting with his lawyers as testimony resumed.<\/p>\n
The hearing, which was postponed on Friday because of Mangione\u2019s apparent illness, applies only to the state case. His lawyers are making a similar push to exclude the evidence from his federal case, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors have said the handgun found in the backpack matches the firearm used in the killing and that writings in the notebook showed Mangione\u2019s disdain for health insurers and ideas about killing a CEO at an investor conference.<\/p>\n
Thompson, 50, was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for his company\u2019s investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police have said \u201cdelay,\u201d \u201cdeny\u201d and \u201cdepose\u201d were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.<\/p>\n
Mangione was arrested in Altoona, about 230 miles from Manhattan, after police there received a 911 call.<\/p>\n
Wasser testified that she went to the McDonald\u2019s on her own to assist another officer, Joseph Detwiler. Before that, she said, she had seen some coverage of Thompson\u2019s killing on Fox News.<\/p>\n
Wasser began searching Mangione\u2019s bag as officers took him into custody on initial charges of forgery and false identification, after he acknowledged giving them a bogus driving license, police said. The same fake name was used by the alleged gunman used at a Manhattan hostel days before the shooting.<\/p>\n
By then, a handcuffed Mangione had been informed of his right to remain silent \u2013 and invoked it \u2013 when asked if there was anything officers should be concerned about.<\/p>\n
Wasser told another officer she wanted to check the bag for a bomb before leaving the McDonald\u2019s because she didn\u2019t want to repeat an incident in which another Altoona officer had inadvertently brought a bomb to the police station.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you call the bomb squad?\u201d Mangione lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. I didn\u2019t find a bomb yet,\u201d Wasser said.<\/p>\n
According to body-worn camera video, the first few items Wasser found were innocuous: a hoagie, a loaf of bread and a smaller bag containing a passport, cellphone and computer chip.<\/p>\n
Then she pulled out a gray pair of underwear, unwrapping them to reveal the magazine.<\/p>\n
Satisfied there was no bomb, she suspended her search and placed some of the items back in the bag. Some evidence, including Mangione\u2019s laptop, was transported to the police station in a brown paper bag, body-worn camera video showed.<\/p>\n
Wasser resumed her search after an 11-minute drive to the police station and almost immediately found the gun and silencer \u2014 the latter discovery prompting her to laugh and exclaim \u201cnice\u201d, according to footage. Wasser said the gun was in a side pocket that she had not searched at McDonald\u2019s. Later, while cataloging everything in the bag, she found the notebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsn\u2019t it awesome?\u201d Wasser said at one point during the search.<\/p>\n
Asked to explain, she told Friedman Agnifilo that she was proud of her police department\u2019s work in helping to capture Thompson\u2019s suspected killer.<\/p>\n
A Blair county, Pennsylvania, prosecutor testified that a judge later signed off on a search warrant for the bag, a few hours after the searches were completed. The warrant, she said, provided a legal mechanism for Altoona police to turn the evidence over to New York detectives.<\/p>\n
As he has throughout the case, assistant district attorney Joel Seidemann described Thompson\u2019s killing as an \u201cexecution\u201d and referred to his notebook as a \u201cmanifesto\u201d \u2013 terms that Mangione\u2019s lawyers said were prejudicial and inappropriate.<\/p>\n
Judge Gregory Carro said the wording had \u201cno bearing\u201d on him, but warned Seidemann that he\u2019s \u201ccertainly not going to do that at trial\u201d when jurors are present.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Bullets #Mangione #bag #convinced #police #CEO #killing #suspect #court #hears #Brian #Thompson #shooting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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