Luigi Mangione, the suspect accused of killing UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson, has pleaded not guilty to murder and terrorism charges in New York state.
Mangione, 26, faces two murder cases which are tied to the one killing. He appeared in court on Monday (Dec 23) with his attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo where to plead not guilty, and his attorney delivered some opening remarks.
Luigi Mangione’s Attorney is not messing around calls out NYC Mayor Eric Adams for trying to influence the jury pool with prejudiced statements and says his client is being treated like a spectacle whose right to a fair trial is being violated. pic.twitter.com/6lq25gnNX4
— Power to the People ☭🕊 (@ProudSocialist) December 23, 2024
The maximum punishment for the state charges is life without parole. Ms. Agnifilo said the two prosecutions were unprecedented in her experience.
Photos from his court appearance on Monday have been circulating online, they show a few moments when the alleged killer, Luigi Mangione, was seen smiling.
His legal counsel told him to rizzmaxx, didn’t they? pic.twitter.com/qKkXfyK2sq
— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) December 23, 2024
Some commenters are upset that he is smiling and say he is not showing remorse for the alleged murder of Brian Thompson. End Wokeness a big account on 𝕏 wrote, "He took the life of a dad who did nothing to him and has ZERO remorse."
That's one take. There are still many people who are not convinced that Mangione is the killer, and therefore interpret his smiling as a sign of innocence, suggesting that he seems optimistic that he will beat the cases.
And there are even people that think his team is playing into the hype, they are trying to make him more appealing to the cult-following he has attracted. In his most recent court appearance he was wearing a matching sweater with his lawyer, which might play into this theory.
WTF: Luigi Mangione oddly wears matching outfit with his lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo in NYC court hearing. Friedman-Agnifilo's husband, Marc Agnifilo, is currently representing rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs in his ongoing sex trafficking case.
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 23, 2024
📸 @nypost pic.twitter.com/BQvZpokYSi
While right-wing accounts on 𝕏 are condemning Mangione, the left wing has embraced him as an anti-hero. A lot of the hype has to do with the fact that he's an attractive guy and less to do with his actual beliefs, which align more with normie right-wing ideology.
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