As we approach Luigi Mangione’s September 8 trial date in New York, procedural matters will be under high scrutiny. Today’s pretrial hearing concerned what would be admitted as evidence in the coming trial. Huff Post has coverage:
A New York state judge threw alleged CEO killer Luigi Mangione a bone at a Monday hearing, determining that certain pieces of evidence are barred from the trial because of the way local police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, handled his arrest.
…
The judge briefly explained his reasoning in court, saying the Altoona officers conducted an “improper, warrantless search” of Mangione’s backpack at the McDonald’s where he was eating breakfast the day of his arrest.“Therefore, the evidence found during the search of the backpack at the McDonald’s must be suppressed, including the [loaded] magazine, cellphone, passport, wallet and computer chip,” Carro said in his written ruling.
You can hear the judge here:
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Despite the article’s language like “threw a bone” and “handled his arrest,” this is a pretty big deal. Let’s not forget that the reason the evidence won’t be admitted is because the police were outed for doing a tyranny on a guy — “handled his arrest” is a cute way of saying violated his constitutionally protected rights. We lose sight of the importance of liberty if we skirt past the warrantless search and frame the narrative as some judge taking pity on a guy. The actual story here is that due process, which is always important, must be respected and the powers of the state must be limited even and especially in a high-profile criminal case where the accused was paraded around the Athens, Istanbul, and Kyiv of America like a damned comic book villain before trial:
The commitment to a fair trial flows both ways: the state will be permitted to admit a gun, a silencer, and other bits of evidence procured once his backpack was actually in custody. You know, the way things were supposed to happen. As for the corrective action concerning the things that weren’t admissible that could have made the case easier on the state, measure twice and cut once. Mirandize suspects and make sure things are in custody before you start rummaging through them. Imprisoning people is supposed to be difficult — the duty is on officers and everyone else involved in the chain of command to do their jobs by the book so that the interests of justice and personal liberty can be balanced.
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Toward a fair and speedy trial.
Judge Rules Partly In Favor Of Luigi Mangione At Key Pretrial Hearing [Huff Post]
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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boat builder who is learning to swim and is interested in rhetoric, Spinozists and humor. Getting back in to cycling wouldn’t hurt either. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by Tweet/Bluesky at @WritesForRent.