The 26-year-old man charged with murdering a health care executive in Manhattan is scheduled to appear in a Pennsylvania courtroom on Thursday morning for a hearing over his extradition to New York.
The man, Luigi Mangione, is currently being held at a prison in Pennsylvania after he was spotted in a McDonald’s in the central part of the state and arrested by the local police. The Manhattan district attorney’s office wants to move him to New York to prosecute him for the death of Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, a killing that they have called an “act of terrorism” because it was intended to influence government policies and intimidate civilians.
After his arrest last week, Mr. Mangione indicated through his lawyer that he would contest extradition to New York. But the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, said this week that Mr. Mangione may concede to being extradited. Mr. Mangione has been represented by a lawyer in Pennsylvania but has also since hired a prominent New York defense lawyer who worked as a top prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
If he does end his challenge to the extradition, Mr. Mangione would be brought to New York and taken to jail ahead of an arraignment, which would most likely take place on Friday.
The police have said that Mr. Mangione waited outside of a hotel a short walk from Times Square and shot Mr. Thompson multiple times early in the morning on Dec. 4, while the executive was on his way to an investor meeting. The brazen killing prompted a five-day manhunt that ended in Altoona, Pa., where Mr. Mangione was captured in a McDonald’s while he was eating breakfast, after he was unable to get a room at a nearby motel.
The authorities said that, at the time of his arrest, Mr. Mangione had a gun with him that matched the shell casings left at the crime scene. And they also said he had a document with him that decried “parasites” — apparently referring to those working in the health insurance industry — and said he had acted alone.
The targeting of a top health executive has prompted discussion about Americans’ frustrations with the high cost and chronic dysfunction of country’s health care system and, in particular, the practices and profits of insurance companies. But in some corners, Mr. Mangione was lauded as something of a hero, a characterization that has been denounced by community leaders and law enforcement officials. Jessica Tisch, the commissioner of the New York Police Department, said she was appalled by the “celebration of coldblooded murder.”
Mr. Mangione, a computer engineer who grew up in a Baltimore suburb, has not spoken publicly since he was arrested, except for a moment last week when he shouted to reporters as he was being taken into a courthouse by the police. In that outburst, he said something was “completely out of touch, and an insult to the intelligence of the American people” and made a reference to “lived experience.” It was not clear to what he was referring. (The sheriff of Blair County, whose deputies were pushing Mr. Mangione into the courthouse at the time, said Mr. Mangione had told him he was upset with the news media.)
Mr. Thompson lived in a Minneapolis suburb and had been with UnitedHealthcare for more than 20 years. He became its chief executive in 2021. The company made $16 billion in profits last year, and Mr. Thompson was paid more than $10 million in total compensation.
United has said that neither Mr. Mangione nor his family had health insurance coverage through the company. Mr Mangione had told friends he suffered from back pain and underwent surgery for the problem in the summer of 2023. He later reported on Reddit that the operation was a success.
Little is known about how Mr. Mangione spent his last six months. He had lived in Hawaii for some time before going on a trip to Asia, with stops in Thailand and Japan, according to people who knew him. His friends and family tried to contact him during those months but could not reach him.
The post C.E.O. Killing Suspect Faces Hearing on Extradition to New York appeared first on New York Times.
