Two heart-shaped notes were hidden in the cardboard packaging of argyle socks delivered to Luigi Mangione ahead of his court appearance in Manhattan last month, according to prosecutors. “Know there are thousands of people wishing you luck,” one note said.
The episode was revealed in court documents made public on Wednesday as New York prosecutors and Mr. Mangione’s defense lawyers argued over his access to evidence and whether he was receiving special treatment.
Mr. Mangione was allowed to change his outfit for the court appearance, while “most incarcerated defendants must wear jail-issued clothing,” prosecutors wrote.
In spite of receiving the notes, “the defendant was permitted to wear the argyle socks,” prosecutors wrote, “which he first changed into and later changed out of because he felt that ‘they did not look good.’”
Mr. Mangione has been charged with killing Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, on a sidewalk in front of a Midtown hotel on Dec. 4. Mr. Thompson was gunned down as he was arriving at an investor meeting.
Mr. Mangione was arrested five days later in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., where the authorities said they found him with what they called a manifesto. The case has garnered international attention in the months since.
In their own filing, Mr. Mangione’s lawyers said that they wanted him to be given a specialized laptop while in federal custody so he could view evidence and help in his own defense. Otherwise, they wrote in a filing, they will have to print more than 15,000 pages for Mr. Mangione to review in his cell.
His lawyers also said in court papers filed over the weekend that they were waiting to receive copies of all the evidence investigators had collected, which they were required to share, including grand jury testimony and information from Mr. Mangione’s electronic devices.
Not having access to all evidence, referred to as discovery, is hindering his defense, the lawyers said.
“There is no good reason why Mr. Mangione has not been provided with complete discovery, all of which is entirely in law enforcement’s possession,” wrote his lawyers, led by Karen Friedman Agnifilo.
In response, prosecutors told the judge, Gregory Carro, that he should reject Mr. Mangione’s request for a laptop, writing that the defense had failed “to show a necessity” for the device.
The Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where Mr. Mangione is being held, generally bars detainees from having laptops, prosecutors said. In addition, it would be an “impossibility” to redact all of the raw video surveillance that Mr. Mangione’s team was asking for him to review, prosecutors said.
“Should defendant have unfettered access to video surveillance, he may disseminate images of civilians captured on said video surveillance,” prosecutors said.
Computers for examining evidence are available in each housing unit at the detention center, according to a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Laptops are not allowed in housing units, but court orders have sometimes permitted inmates to use them in visiting rooms.
The filings this week come as three cases against Mr. Mangione, 26, are moving through the legal system in multiple jurisdictions.
In New York, Mr. Mangione faces an 11-count indictment by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, including first-degree murder, which brands him as a terrorist, as well as weapons charges and two variations of second-degree murder. He is also facing federal charges, one of which carries the possibility of the death penalty. He faces gun and forgery charges in Pennsylvania.
He has pleaded not guilty to all of the accusations.
Since his arrest, Mr. Mangione has received support from online posts and donations, and people have flocked to his court hearings. As of Wednesday morning, a fund-raising page for him had gathered nearly $760,000.
In their filing, Mr. Mangione’s lawyers argued that law enforcement officials had been trying to smear his name by “routinely providing information to the public, including confidential grand jury information, in clear violation of Mr. Mangione’s constitutional rights.” His lawyers pointed to several news articles and documentary films in which New York Police Department officials and Mayor Eric Adams had discussed the case.
The post Mangione Was Sent Socks With Heart-Shaped Notes Inside, Prosecutors Say appeared first on New York Times.
