Thomas Dickey, defense attorney for Luigi Mangione/ABC News
(NEW YORK) — The defense attorney representing Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, said he has seen “no evidence” linking his client to the killing, adding that “a lot of guns look the same.”
“I have not been made aware of any evidence that links the gun that was found on his person to the crime so these are things that we’re looking to see,” attorney Thomas Dickey told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” on Wednesday.
“Today’s another day,” he added. “We’re looking forward to beginning our inquiry as to what evidence may or may not be out there.”
The attorney said Mangione is “taking it as well as he can.”
Mangione, 26, plans to challenge his extradition from Pennsylvania to New York, where he faces a charge of second-degree murder in connection with Thompson’s Dec. 4 outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel.
The Ivy League graduate was arrested on Monday in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and charged in Pennsylvania for allegedly possessing an untraceable “ghost” gun.”
“He has constitutional rights and that’s what he’s doing” in challenging the interstate transfer, Dickey told reporters on Tuesday.
Police officials in New York have not said whether the gun recovered in Pennsylvania is considered a match for the one used in the killing last week, but said it looks similar and that it would undergo ballistic testing.
“A lot of guns look the same,” Dickey said on Wednesday. “If you brought a gun in and said, ‘Well, it looks like that,’ I don’t even know if that evidence would be admissible. So I would argue it wouldn’t be given much weight.”
He also cautioned that anyone speculating on the case should take the potential evidence “in its entirety,” not taking pieces of writing or other evidence “out of context.”
“People put out certain things, parts of different things,” he said. “I think any lawyer involved in this situation would want to see it all.”
Mangione plans to plead not guilty to the charges filed against him in Pennsylvania, Dickey said. A judge in Pennsylvania ordered Mangione held without bail on Tuesday.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it will seek a governor’s warrant to try to force Mangione’s extradition. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement that she’ll sign a request for the governor’s warrant “to ensure this individual is tried and held accountable.”
Dickey said he anticipates that Mangione would also plead not guilty to the second-degree murder charge in New York.
Mangione yelled to the press about “an insult to the intelligence of the American people” as he was physically dragged into the courthouse on Tuesday.
When Mangione was arrested on Monday, he had “written admissions about the crime” with him, according to the New York arrest warrant.
Mangione’s writings, obtained by ABC News, were addressed to the “Feds” and said, “I do apologize for any strife of traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.”
He claimed that the U.S. has the most expensive health care system in the world, but ranks about No. 42 in life expectancy. He said UnitedHealthcare “has grown and grown, but as our life expectancy? No the reality is, these [indecipherable] have simply gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit.”
Whether Mangione has a personal connection to UnitedHealthcare is unknown, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
A UnitedHealth Group spokesperson said in a statement that they hope the arrest “brings some relief to Brian’s family, friends, colleagues and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy. We thank law enforcement and will continue to work with them on this investigation.”
ABC News’ Peter Charalambous and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
(BURLINGTON, Vt.) Residents of parts of upstate New York and Vermont awoke to winter-like weather Thursday morning, including the earliest a foot of snow has fallen in the higher elevations of the Green Mountain state in 14 years.
The overnight snowfall brought 12 inches to Mount Mansfield, the highest peak in Vermont, and 15 inches to the summit of Whiteface Mountain in New York’s Adirondack Mountains.
The snowy weather ties 2010 as the earliest date that the snow depth at Mount Mansfield has reached a foot, according to the National Weather Service in Burlington, Vermont.
Winter storm watches and warnings were also issued in the West from Oregon to Colorado, where one to more than two feet of October snow is forecast through Saturday for the Rocky Mountains.
Millions of people from Oklahoma to Maine were feeling their coldest air of the season Thursday morning. Frost and freeze alerts were issued in 20 eastern states or about half of the country.
Frost alerts were also issued for Little Rock, Arkansas, Birmingham, Alabama and Atlanta. Asheville, North Carolina, which is still recovering from devastating floods caused by Hurricane Helene last month, was under a frost alert Thursday.
The weather was also chilly in Tampa Bay, Florida, where temperatures dipped to the 50s Thursday morning.
The cold spell is expected to be short-lived. A warm-up is on the way for much of the eastern half of the United States. Temperatures are forecast to jump to the 70s in the Northeast and the 80s across the South over the weekend.
The high forecast for New York City on Sunday is 73 degrees, while Tampa could reach 83 on Sunday.
The first major winter storm of the season is moving through the Pacific Northwest on Thursday. Ahead of this storm, gusty winds and dry conditions are sparking fire weather alerts across the West Coast.
Red flag warnings signaling elevated fire danger have been issued for the San Francisco Bay Area and much of Northern California. Red flag warnings were also in place Thursday for parts of Colorado and Minnesota, and extreme fire danger is forecast for Nebraska, where warm, dry and gusty winds could spread fires quickly.
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — New York City’s deputy mayor for public safety, Phil Banks III, resigned Monday in the latest fallout from the corruption scandal engulfing the administration of Mayor Eric Adams.
“We spoke yesterday and we spoke again this morning and he stated he wants to move on to other things in his life,” Adams told NY1. “I wish my good friend well.”
Banks’ brother, David Banks, resigned as schools chancellor. First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, David Banks’ wife, is arranging her departure from the administration.
Phil Banks had his phones seized last month as part of a federal investigation into city contracts of how the police department enforced nightlife regulations. David Banks and Sheena Wright had their phones seized as well.
Phil Banks, at one point the highest-ranking uniformed officer in the NYPD, resigned from the department in 2014 amid a different corruption scandal during the prior administration. Federal prosecutors at the time named Banks an unindicted coconspirator.
Adams has pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment charging him with bribery and fraud. He is resisting calls for his resignation.
“New Yorkers are saying keep doing the job you’ve been doing,” Adams told NY1.
