The judge overseeing Luigi Mangione’s Manhattan state court trial ruled Monday that some evidence gathered during his arrest would be barred from court.
“The evidence found during the search of the backpack at the McDonald’s must be suppressed, including the magazine, cellphone, passport, wallet and computer chip,” Judge Gregory Carro said in his 18 May decision.
“The search of the backpack at the misconduct at the McDonald’s was an improper warrantless search,” Carro said in court while briefly summing up his ruling.
Carro ruled that evidence recovered at the police station was admissible, including the gun which authorities allege is the murder weapon.
The ruling was released moments before Mangione’s appeared in advance of his highly anticipated trial over the murder of healthcare executive Brian Thompson on a New York City street. He was escorted into court just before 10am, wearing a navy blue suit.
Carro, who is presiding over the case, had for months weighed whether to toss some prosecution evidence at Mangione’s 8 September state criminal trial. The defense has contended that police who arrested Mangione at an Altoona, Pennsylvania McDonald’s on 9 December 2024 did not apprise him of his constitutional rights.
Mangione’s defense has insisted that because he was not immediately apprised of his rights, statements he made to police officers should be barred from the trial. They also claim that evidence gathered during a police search of Mangione’s backpack at the fast food restaurant should be prohibited from court, arguing that authorities engaged in a “warrantless search”.
Authorities defended searching Mangione’s backpack without a warrant, citing exigent circumstances. Carro disagreed.
“Even if the backpack could be seen as within the defendant’s control or grabbable area, the People did not meet their burden of demonstrating exigency,” Carro wrote. “The People assert that the police were merely searching for explosives in an effort to protect themselves and the public, before removing the backpack to the station.
“However, this justification for searching the backpack does not hold up to scrutiny,” he said.
However, Carro will allow prosecutors to bring into evidence Mangione’s alleged notebook, “as the officers did not open or search it at the McDonald’s”.
Mangione is accused of gunning down Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO, outside a Manhattan hotel on 4 December 2024. The killing spurred a massive manhunt that concluded after an anonymous tipster called in a tip that they spotted Mangione at the restaurant.
Mangione also faces charges in Manhattan federal court, with that trial scheduled to begin in January 2027. He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Carro on 16 September 2025 tossed the top two state charges against Mangione – first-degree murder and second-degree murder as terrorism crimes. He still faces nine counts in his state case such as second-degree murder, which carries a sentence range of 25 years to life in prison.
