Some items in Luigi Mangione’s backpack won’t be used as evidence in trial, judge rules

The judge overseeing Luigi Mangione ’s Manhattan state court trial ruled Monday that some evidence gathered during his arrest would be barred from court. “The evidence found during the search of the backpack at the McDonald’s must be suppressed, including the magazine, cellphone, passport, wallet and computer chip,” Judge Gregory Carro said in his 18 May decision. “The search of the backpack at the misconduct at the McDonald’s was an improper warrantless search,” Carro said in court while briefly summing up his ruling. Carro ruled that evidence recovered at the police station was admissible, including the gun which authorities allege is the murder weapon. The ruling was released moments before Mangione’s appeared in advance of his highly anticipated trial over the murder of healthcare executive Brian Thompson on a New York City street. He was escorted into court just before 10am, wearing a navy blue suit. Carro, who is presiding over the case, had for months weighed whether to toss some prosecution evidence at Mangione’s 8 September state criminal trial. The defense has contended that police who arrested Mangione at an Altoona, Pennsylvania McDonald’s on 9 December 2024 did not apprise him of his constitutional rights. Mangione’s defense has insisted that because he was not immediately apprised of his rights, statements he made to police officers should be barred from the trial. …