The lawyer for Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old man arrested and charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, appeared on Good Morning America Wednesday to explain why the suspect is fighting extradition from Pennsylvania — where Mangione was apprehended — to New York City, where Thompson's murder occurred.
Thomas Dickey, Mangione's lawyer, told GMA's George Stephanopoulos that he hasn't seen any evidence yet that directly links Mangione to the crime he's accused of.
“We had a brief hearing yesterday, but there is one document – an arrest warrant from the state of New York – which merely referenced a statute. We've seen no evidence,” Dickey said. “That's one of the many reasons why we're challenging the extradition at this point, so we can see some evidence and get a little more detailed information about the charges against Luigi.”
When asked about the “ghost gun” found in Mangione's possession at the time of his arrest at an Altoona, Pennsylvania McDonald's and its similarity — at least visually — to the one seen in surveillance footage of Thompson's murder, Dickey argued, “A lot of guns look the same.”
“As I indicated yesterday, I have not been made aware of any evidence that links the gun that was found on his person to the crime. These are things we're looking to see,” Dickey added.
“If you brought a gun in and said, 'Well, it looks like that.' I don't even know if it would be admissible, and if so I would argue that it wouldn't be given much weight. That's why they do ballistic tests, ballistics, examination, a test of all that to try to match that. Trust me, they're going to try to match that firearm to the incident by more than just, 'Well, it looks like that.'”
As for Mangione's alleged manifesto that contained “some ill will toward corporate America,” Dickey said, “I haven't seen any of that yet.”
“One of the rules of evidence is that there's a rule of completeness, so you have to take any writing, any document in its entirety because some things can be taken out of context,” Dickey said. “These are exactly the things that I'm looking to get my hands on. I'm hoping to get that as early as today.”
At the time of his arrest, Mangione was also reportedly in possession of fraudulent IDs, including a fake New Jersey driver's license with the same name as one used by a then-person of interest when checking into a New York hostel.
Dickey said that, again, authorities have not presented that evidence as part of the arrest warrant yet. “People put out certain things and parts of different things, but I think any lawyer involved in this situation would want to see it all,” the lawyer said.
Outside of Mangione's extradition hearing Tuesday in Pennsylvania, the suspect yelled to news cameras gathered outside the courthouse, “It's completely out of touch! It's an insult to the intelligence of the American people!”
