The judge overseeing Luigi Mangione’s<\/a> state murder case ruled Monday that certain evidence seized from his backpack during a search at the Pennsylvania McDonald’s where he was arrested must be suppressed, while evidence seized at the stationhouse in Altoona, Pennsylvania — including the alleged murder weapon — will be allowed.<\/p>\n New York Judge Gregory Carro determined Mangione’s backpack was not in a “grabbable area” while he was detained by Altoona police in the McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n “The search of the backpack at the McDonald\u2019s was an improper warrantless search,” Carro said.<\/p>\n “Therefore, the evidence found during the search of the backpack at the McDonald\u2019s must be suppressed, including the magazine, cellphone, passport, wallet and computer chip,” he said.<\/p>\n Carro decided the subsequent search of the backpack at the stationhouse “as a valid inventory search,” so the items discovered there, including the alleged gun used, a notebook and handwritten slips of paper with purported escape routes, will be allowed at trial.<\/p>\n Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court, Dec. 8, 2025, in New York.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Stephen Yang\/Pool via AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Certain statements Mangione made to Altoona officers will be suppressed, including his response when he was asked why he had initially given a false name.\u00a0<\/p>\n Statements Mangione made to two Pennsylvania corrections officers are allowed, including a wide-ranging conversation about healthcare, overseas travel and literature. Mangione asked one of the officers how he was being perceived in the media for his alleged crime and expressed a desire to make a public statement.<\/p>\n Mangione attended Monday\u2019s hearing wearing a dark suit. He sat at the defense table as two court officers stood behind him.<\/p>\n Mangione’s state trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 8 for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and Carro’s decision will help define the contours of the high-profile criminal trial.<\/p>\n Defense lawyers have argued that the search of the backpack without a warrant violated Mangione’s rights, and have repeatedly urged Carro to block prosecutors from using the evidence.\u00a0<\/p>\n “At the hearing, Altoona law enforcement officers repeatedly attempted to justify their warrantless search of Mr. Mangione’s backpack … instead, all these officers demonstrated was an utter disregard for a defendant’s constitutional rights and a shocking ignorance of basic search and seizure caselaw,” Mangione’s attorneys wrote in a state court filing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lawyers from the Manhattan district attorney’s office pushed back on those claims, arguing the officers acted “in deliberate and painstaking fashion” when they searched the backpack.\u00a0<\/p>\n “At every step, the Altoona officers responded to this unexpected and alarming situation reasonably,” Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann wrote in a court filing, adding that officers later obtained a warrant for the bag “establishing an independent source for recovering the backpack’s contents.”<\/p>\n![\"Altoona\"](\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/a51940dc-7c7c-49d5-a736-e321255b9d18\/Luigi-Mangione-ap-gmh-260515_1778883022190_hpMain.jpg?w=375 "\\"Altoona\\"")
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