The videos, including footage from the restaurant previously unseen by the press or the public, kicked off a hearing on Mangione’s fight to bar evidence from his state murder trial, including the gun prosecutors say matches the one used in the Dec. 4, 2024, attack. Thompson was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for his company’s annual investor conference.
Mangione, 27, pressed a finger to his lips and a thumb to his chin as he watched footage of two police officers approaching him as he ate breakfast at the McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles west of Manhattan.
He gripped a pen in his right hand, making a fist at times, as prosecutors played a 911 call from a McDonald's manager relaying concerns from customers that Mangione looked like the suspect in Thompson’s killing. The manager said she searched online for photos of the suspect and that as Mangione sat in the restaurant, she could only see his eyebrows because he was wearing a beanie and a medical face mask.
Among the evidence Mangione's defense team wants excluded are the 9mm handgun and a notebook in which prosecutors say he described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive. Both were found in a backpack Mangione had with him when he was arrested.
Mangione, the Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Maryland family, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. The state charges carry the possibility of life in prison, while federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Neither trial has been scheduled yet. The next hearing in the federal case is scheduled for Jan. 9.
Defense wants to bar the gun and notebook from his trial
After getting state terrorism charges thrown out in September, Mangione’s lawyers are zeroing in on what they say was unconstitutional police conduct that threatens his right to a fair trial.
They contend that the Manhattan district attorney's office should be prevented from showing the gun, notebook and other items to jurors because police didn't have a search warrant.
They also want to suppress some of Mangione's statements to police, such as when he allegedly gave his name as Mark Rosario, because officers started asking questions before telling him he had a right to remain silent. Prosecutors say Mangione gave the same name when he checked into a Manhattan hostel days before the killing.
Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind. Prosecutors say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.
