Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Friday that the accused killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson might reverse course and waive extradition from Pennsylvania to New York City.
Luigi Mangione has been held at the State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon County since being arrested Monday at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on several charges to which he has pleaded not guilty, ending a nationwide manhunt following Thompson's brazen slaying Dec. 4 outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
Mangione is facing several charges in New York related to Thompson's killing, including one count of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He has since been fighting extradition from Pennsylvania.
"Indications are that the defendant may waive but that waiver is not complete until a court proceeding," Bragg said, according to WABC-TV in New York, adding the earliest a court proceeding could be scheduled in Pennsylvania is Tuesday.
"So, until that time, we are going to continue to press forward on parallel paths," Bragg said. "We will be ready, whether he is going to waive extradition or whether he is going to contest extradition."
Prosecutors in Bragg's office have started to present evidence to a grand jury to secure an indictment against Mangione, according to WABC. The next scheduled court date in Pennsylvania for the 26-year-old Ivy League graduate is Dec. 30.
"He has constitutional rights and that's what he's doing" in challenging the extradition to New York, defense attorney Thomas Dickey told reporters Tuesday, according to WABC.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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