Alleged killer Luigi Mangione was greeted by adoring fans as he returned to court in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, for an extradition hearing on Thursday.
The 26-year-old has been charged in New York City for the murder of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson in midtown Manhattan.
Mangione was indicted on charges of murder as an act of terrorism, under a NY state law that allows for stiffer sentences when a killing is aimed at terrifying civilians or influencing government.
He will go through two back-to-back hearings on Thursday – the first for forgery and firearms charges in Pennsylvania.
The second hearing will be on whether Mangione is extradited to New York to face murder charges. Mangione s lawyer previously said the alleged killer would fight extradition, but he is now expected to waive extradition.
Hundreds of protesters showed up to court to support Mangione. They held signs with messages such as ‘Health insurance practices terrorize people!’ and ‘Death by denial is murder!’
At least two of them were dressed as Luigi from the Super Mario Bros video game.
Luigi Mangione returned to the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, court on Thursday morning
Protesters showed up outside court to support Mangione on Thursday
Mangione was indicted on charges of murder as an act of terrorism
If a judge authorizes his extradition, Mangione would then be brought to New York, where he could appear in state court for arraignment Thursday afternoon or Friday.
In a court filing last week, Mangione defense attorney Tom Dickey argued prosecutors hadn’t shown there’s sufficient evidence to hold Mangione, that he was in New York when Thompson was killed or that he is a fugitive from justice.
Mangione, of Towson, Maryland, was arrested on December 9 when police were called to a McDonald’s restaurant on a commercial strip in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after he was reported to match the description of Thompson’s killer.
Thompson was gunned down on the street as he walked to the hotel where his Minnesota-based company was holding an investor conference.
The shooting was captured on security video, but the suspect eluded police before Mangione was captured about 277 miles (446 kilometers) west of New York.
Authorities say Mangione was carrying the gun used to kill Thompson, a passport, a fake ID and about $10,000 in U.S. and foreign currency.
Luigi Mangione supporters line-up outside the Blair County Courthouse complex in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania
Suspected assassin Luigi Mangione, 26, claimed he acted alone in a 262-word manifesto reportedly found in his possession during his arrest
Mangione is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson at point-blank range on December 5
His lawyer, Dickey, has questioned the evidence for the forgery charge and the legal basis for a gun charge. He had previously indicated Mangione would fight extradition to New York while being held in a Pennsylvania state prison.
Mangione, an Ivy League computer science graduate from a prominent family, was carrying a handwritten letter that called health insurance companies ‘parasitic’ and complained about corporate greed, according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press last week.
Mangione had an outburst last week as he entered court, yelling at reporters for being ‘completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience!’
Surveillance camera footage showed the gunman, suspected to be Mangione, shooting UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson at point blank range outside of a Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan on December 4
The outburst occurred after someone asked the Ivy League graduate if he ‘did it,’ referencing Brian Thompson’s murder, per the Wall Street Journal.
He also shouted out ‘this is completely unjust and an insult to the American people’ as he wrestled with police officers while shackled and in prison attire.
