Luigi Mangione has hired a high-powered New York attorney to represent him as he faces charges in the death of Brian Thompson.
The murder suspect accused of shooting dead people on the streets of New York City has captivated the country after he was captured by authorities following a five-day run from police.
It now appears he is replacing his original representative Thomas Dickey with Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former assistant district attorney who helped prosecute the Harvey Weinstein case in New York.
She is considered a veteran of the New York State legal system, with a source telling CNN Friedman Agnifilo that she knows “every aisle, every judge, every clerk in the courthouse.”
“She has as much experience as anyone, especially in state court.”
CNN had previously hired Friedman Agnifilo as a legal analyst.
Friedman Agnifilo left Cyrus Vance Jr.’s DA office. in Manhattan in 2021 after seven years to enter private practice, including at Geragos & Geragos, the high-powered LA firm currently representing the Menendez brothers.
She studied political science and government before earning her law degree from Georgetown.
Luigi Mangione hires a powerful New York attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo to represent him while he is accused of murder for being the alleged killer of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare
The accused killer of CEO Brian Thompson, who was shot dead on the streets of New York City, captivated the country after being captured by authorities following a five-day run from police
Friedman Agnifilo also co-hosts a podcast called MissTrial, along with former New York Congresswoman Kathleen Rice and ex-federal prosecutor E. Danya Perry.
According to the organization, several crowdfunding attempts have been made to raise money for Mangione’s defense ABC News.
The suspect, 26, is accused of killing 50-year-old UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York City hotel on December 4.
He was arrested in Pennsylvania on gun charges and had an action-packed day in court Tuesday against extradition to the Big Apple.
As Mangione tries to extend his stay in the Keystone State, New York officials hope to get him back with a so-called gubernatorial order.
It is an order signed by the governor of a state where a fugitive is fleeing after a crime. The governor of that state acts at the official request of the governor of the state where the crime occurred.
In this case, New York Governor Kathy Hochul is expected to apply for a governor’s order from Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, but the process could take more than a month.
On Wednesday, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said police matched a gun found on Mangione to shell casings found at the scene and his fingerprints to a water bottle and energy bar wrapper found nearby.
Friedman Agnifilo (pictured right) is a former assistant district attorney who helped prosecute the Harvey Weinstein case in New York
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead outside the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan
Other evidence includes handwritten documents found in his possession that frame his alleged crime as a legitimate response to what he viewed as corporate greed, some media have reported.
Mangione lashed out Tuesday as he was led into a courthouse, shouting in part, “…completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people!”
The former Ivy League student was arrested with a 3D-printed gun and a black silencer, as well as a manifesto condemning the US healthcare system.
Mangione also had a spiral notebook in which he wrote a “to-do list” prior to the grizzly shooting. CNN reported.
In it, he reportedly toyed with the idea of using a bomb to kill Thompson, but decided against it because it “might kill innocents,” deciding that a shooting would be more targeted.
He also reportedly mused that it couldn’t get any better than “killing the CEO at his own bean counting conference” as Thompson was about to announce the financial gains the company had made this year.
Authorities have said Mangione’s three-page manifesto is currently under investigation and have called it a “claim of responsibility.”
The document is a different piece of evidence than the notebook, in which he flirted with the idea of bombing Midtown to kill the healthcare millionaire.
Surveillance camera footage showed the gunman, believed to be Mangione, shooting UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Hilton hotel in downtown Manhattan on December 4.
In the manifesto, Mangione is said to have written about the grandiose size of UnitedHealthcare and how much profit it makes, and went on to condemn health insurers more broadly for putting profits before care.
Details about his writing come against the backdrop of the UPenn graduate’s own experience with the medical field as he struggled after a spinal cord injury. His extensive online presence also revealed that he had read several books on back pain.
‘To spare you a lengthy investigation, I clearly state that I have not collaborated with anyone. This was fairly trivial: some basic social engineering, basic CAD, [and] lots of patience,” he reportedly wrote in the manifesto, according to the Daily Beast.
He went on to say he had “respect” for federal investigators and apologized for causing any “trauma” but appeared to defend his alleged actions.
“To be honest, these parasites already expected it,” the manifesto read.
It claimed that the United States had the “world’s most expensive health care system” but criticized the system for only ranking America 42nd in life expectancy.