From Newsgroup: alt.law-enforcement

NEW YORK (AP) rCo Moments after Luigi Mangione was handcuffed at a
Pennsylvania McDonaldrCOs, a police officer searching his backpack found a loaded gun magazine wrapped in a pair of underwear.

The discovery, recounted in court Monday as Mangione fights to keep
evidence out of his New York murder case, convinced police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, that he was the man wanted in the killing of
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan five days earlier.

rCLItrCOs him, dude. ItrCOs him, 100%,rCY an officer was heard saying on body-worn camera video from MangionerCOs Dec. 9, 2024 arrest, punctuating
the remark with expletives as the officer combing the bag, Christy
Wasser, held up the magazine.

Wasser, a 19-year Altoona police veteran, testified on the fourth day of
a pretrial hearing as Mangione sought to bar prosecutors from using the magazine and other evidence against him, including a 9 mm handgun and a notebook found during a subsequent bag search.

The testimony shed light on the critical minutes after Mangione was
spotted at the McDonaldrCOs and the sometimes unusual steps police
officers took in collecting evidence critical to tying him to the crime.

Why the defense says the evidence shouldnrCOt be used at trial
MangionerCOs lawyers argue the items should be excluded because police
didnrCOt have a search warrant and lacked the grounds to justify a
warrantless search. Prosecutors contend the search was legal and that
police eventually obtained a warrant.

Wasser, testifying in full uniform, said Altoona police protocols
require promptly searching a suspectrCOs property at the time of an
arrest, in part for dangerous items.

On body-worn camera video played in court, Wasser was heard saying she
wanted to check the bag for bombs before removing it from the
McDonaldrCOs. Despite that concern, she acknowledged in her testimony
Monday that police never cleared the restaurant of customers or
employees.

Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder
charges. He appeared in good health on Monday, pumping his fist for photographers and chatting with his lawyers as testimony resumed.

The hearing, which was postponed Friday because of MangionerCOs apparent illness, applies only to the state case. His lawyers are making a
similar push to exclude the evidence from his federal case, where
prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Why prosecutors say jurors should be able to see the evidence
Prosecutors have said the handgun found in the backpack matches the
firearm used in the killing and that writings in the notebook showed MangionerCOs disdain for health insurers and ideas about killing a CEO at
an investor conference.

Thompson, 50, was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for his
companyrCOs investor conference on Dec. 4, 2024. Surveillance video showed
a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police have said rCLdelay,rCY rCLdenyrCY and rCLdeposerCY were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione was arrested in Altoona, about 230 miles west of Manhattan,
after police there received a 911 call about a McDonaldrCOs customer
resembling the suspect.

Wasser testified that she went to the McDonaldrCOs on her own to assist
another officer, Joseph Detwiler. Before that, she said, she had seen
some coverage of ThompsonrCOs killing on Fox News, including the
surveillance video of the shooting and images of the suspected shooter.

Wasser began searching MangionerCOs bag as officers took him into custody
on initial charges of forgery and false identification, after he
acknowledged giving them a bogus driving license, police said. The same
fake name was used by the alleged gunman used at a Manhattan hostel days
before the shooting.

By then, a handcuffed Mangione had been informed of his right to remain
silent rCo and invoked it rCo when asked if there was anything in the bag
that officers should be concerned about.

Wasser told another officer she wanted to check the bag for a bomb
before leaving the McDonaldrCOs because she didnrCOt want to repeat an
incident in which another Altoona officer had inadvertently brought a
bomb to the police station.

What did police find in MangionerCOs bag?
rCLDid you call the bomb squad?rCY Mangione lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo asked.

rCLNo. I didnrCOt find a bomb yet,rCY Wasser responded.

According to body-worn camera video, the first few items Wasser found
were innocuous: a hoagie, a loaf of bread and a smaller bag containing a passport, cellphone and computer chip.

Then she pulled out a gray pair of underwear, unwrapping them to reveal
the magazine.

Satisfied there was no bomb, she suspended her search and placed some of
the items back in the bag. Some evidence, including MangionerCOs laptop computer, was transported to the police station in a brown paper
McDonaldrCOs takeout bag, body-worn camera video showed.

Wasser resumed her search after an 11-minute drive to the police station
and almost immediately found the gun and silencer rCo the latter discovery prompting her to laugh and exclaim rCLnice,rCY according to body-worn camera footage. Wasser said the gun was in a side pocket that she hadnrCOt
searched at McDonaldrCOs.

Later, while cataloging everything in the bag in whatrCOs known as an
inventory search, she found the notebook and other notes, including what appeared to to-do lists and possible getaway plans.

rCLIsnrCOt it awesome?rCY Wasser said at one point during the search,
according to the body-worn camera video.

Asked to explain, she told Friedman Agnifilo on Monday that she was
proud of her police departmentrCOs work in helping to capture ThompsonrCOs suspected killer.

A Blair County, Pennsylvania, prosecutor testified that a judge later
signed off on a search warrant for the bag, a few hours after the
searches were completed. The warrant, she said, provided a legal
mechanism for Altoona police to turn the evidence over to New York City detectives investigating ThompsonrCOs killing.

As he has throughout the case, Assistant District Attorney Joel
Seidemann described ThompsonrCOs killing as an rCLexecutionrCY and referred to his notebook as a rCLmanifestorCY rCo terms that MangionerCOs lawyers said were prejudicial and inappropriate.

Judge Gregory Carro said the wording had rCLno bearingrCY on him, but warned Seidemann that herCOs rCLcertainly not going to do that at trialrCY when
jurors are present.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/12/08/luigi-mangione-bullets-evidence/

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2