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By Jack Queen
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawyer for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally gunning down U.S. health insurance executive Brian Thompson in December, told a judge Friday that her client was illegally searched during his arrest and she would seek to exclude that evidence from his trial on state murder and terrorism charges.
Lawyer Karen Agnifilo said during a hearing in Manhattan state court that there were "serious search and seizure issues" with Mangione's December arrest in Pennsylvania, though she did not elaborate.
"There might be evidence that is suppressed in this case," Agnifilo said.
Police officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania, found Mangione with a 9-millimeter pistol and silencer, clothing that matched the apparel worn by Thompson's shooter in surveillance footage, and a notebook describing an intent to "wack" an insurance company CEO, according to a court filing.
Thompson, the former CEO of UnitedHealth Group's insurance unit UnitedHealthcare, was shot dead on December 4 outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel, where the company was gathering for an investor conference.
Mangione, 26, appeared in court wearing a green cable knit sweater over a white shirt. He was brought into the courtroom in leg and arm shackles and wearing a bulletproof vest.
Mangione pleaded not guilty on December 23 to an 11-count indictment charging him with murder as an act of terrorism and weapons offenses.
If convicted, Mangione could face life in prison without parole. He is now jailed in a federal lockup in Brooklyn.
The Friday hearing was brief and largely concerned prosecutors' progress in handing over evidence to Mangione’s legal team.
The brazen killing of Thompson and ensuing five-day manhunt captivated Americans.
While public officials condemned the killing, some Americans who decry steep healthcare costs and insurers' power to refuse to pay for some treatments have feted Mangione as a folk hero.
Dozens of Mangione supporters gathered outside the courthouse on Friday and behind police barricades in the hall outside the courtroom.
Mangione also faces a four-count federal criminal complaint charging him with stalking and killing Thompson.
Agnifilo said prosecutors overseeing that case are weighing whether to seek the death penalty, which she said was complicated by the slow pace of discovery in the state case.
Mangione has not yet entered a plea in the federal case.
Avraham Moskowitz, a lawyer with experience in death penalty cases, joined Mangione's defense team this month.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Additional reporting by Luc Cohen; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Nia Williams)
