(Bloomberg) – Luigi Mangione’s lawyer complained that authorities had “always leaked” materials from the “manifesto” that were used to portray 26-year-old terrorists as terrorists who killed UnitedHealthCare Chief Executive Brian Thompson.
His attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo said in an application filed in a New York State Court on Monday that prosecutors tried to show that when Mangione released the manifesto, Mangione publicly announced his intentions ahead of the shooting. The document, which is contained in the journal found in his backpack and expresses anger at the state of the U.S. health care system, is a key part of targeting Mangione.
Mangione pleaded not guilty to the first and second-degree murder charges in New York State, which was linked to the massive shooting death of Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel in December. First-degree charges accusing Mangione of killing Thompson in a terrorist act and sentenced to life imprisonment.
“By freeing these works to the public and calling them a declaration, law enforcement is responsible for arousing public alarms, and they are now trying to attribute them to Mr. Mangiang, which is the basis for strengthening the crime of murder in the terrorist acts of first-degree murder,” Friedman Agnifilo said.
Additionally, she said the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has not been able to hand over the evidence collected in the case for the December deadline and said the court should not approve prosecutors’ request for a protection order to allow them to postpone the disclosure of more evidence.
A spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said their office will respond in court documents later. Mangione also faces federal charges that raised the death penalty on allegations that Mangione followed the victim.
Friedman Agnifilo also asked Mangione to access the computer in prison to assist in his defense. She said he could use a specially configured laptop that had no access to the internet to review the 15,000 pages of electronic evidence he collected.
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