CEO murder latest: What comes next for Luigi Mangione?
Luigi Mangione is charged with first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism.
NEW YORK (WABC) -- The state's trial is expected to get underway first but we don't know at this time when accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione will appear in court for those charges.
Mangione's attorney says this situation is highly unusual, but former NYPD chief of detectives tell us there is a strong case for both.
Mangione made his return to Manhattan on Thursday after allegedly gunning down United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson about two weeks ago.
He landed at Wall street heliport to an entourage of law enforcement and city leaders, which according to retired NYPD chief of detectives Robert Boyce is not unusual.
"We've taken people on airplanes and then helicopters before. It's not unusual. But it's all about security at this point. You don't want to put them on a road where people are going to be stopping there," Boyce said.
Mangione's case will play out in federal court for his stalking and murder charges and in state court for first degree murder as an act of terrorism and second degree murder.
During the 26-year-old's federal court appearance on Thursday, his attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo said they were blindsided by the federal charges and said her client's situation was highly unusual.
Boyce says both sets of prosecutors have strong cases thanks to the items found with Mangione, which indicated planning and his intent to "whack" the CEO of an insurance company at its investor conference.
"He planned it out. He crossed state lines coming into New York from Baltimore carrying a gun and stalked him for ten days. So there lies the terrorist aspect of it," Boyce said. "You can certainly see what Mr. Bragg said about. Sow the seed of terror. You can certainly derive that from it, from his writings, from his manifesto and his spiral book writing self. So Mr. Mangione did this to himself by carrying that around and the weapon."
The cold blooded murder and subsequent manhunt, arrest and extradition have garnered national attention, some even showing their support for Mangione.
Governor Kathy Hochul says there is nothing heroic about his actions.
"There is no celebration of the loss of any human life, especially at the hands of an assassin who had a political agenda where he wanted to elevate his cause by destroying the lives of a family and a company that believed in this individual," Hochul told Bill Ritter during a taping of Up Close on Friday.
Mangione remains Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, the same one where Sean "Diddy" Combs is being held.
The federal complaint contains previously unreleased excerpts from the notebook that police said they seized from Mangione. Authorities said the writings "express hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular."
According to the complaint, an entry marked Aug. 15, 2024, said "the details are finally coming together," and, "I'm glad -- in a way -- that I've procrastinated, bc (because) it allowed me to learn more about (acronym for Company-1)."
The entry also said that "the target is insurance" because "it checks every box," the complaint said. In an entry marked Oct. 22, 2024, the writings said, "1.5 months. This investor conference is a true windfall ... and -- most importantly -- the message becomes self evident."
Later on in the entry, the pages describe an intent to "wack" the CEO of one of the insurance companies at its investor conference, the complaint said.
The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate is accused of ambushing and shooting Brian Thompson on Dec. 4 outside a Manhattan hotel where the head of the United States' largest medical insurance company was walking to an investor conference.
Authorities have said Mangione was carrying the gun used to kill Thompson, a passport, fake IDs and about $10,000 when he was arrested while eating breakfast on Dec. 9 at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
When Mangione was apprehended, he had a 9 mm handgun with a 3D-printed receiver, a homemade silencer, two ammunition magazines and live cartridges, prosecutors said.
The next court date in New York is January 18, 2025.
Mangione, who initially fought attempts to extradite him, made two brief court appearances Thursday, first waiving a preliminary hearing on forgery and firearms charges in Pennsylvania before agreeing to be sent back to New York.
His next hearing in Pennsylvania is scheduled for Feb. 24 - which may ultimately get a continuance or a remote Zoom appearance, given the impracticality of returning for an in-person hearing once he's in New York custody.
RELATED | Timeline of UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting
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Information from ABC News and the Associated Press
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