Lawyer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Thompson murder suspect Luigi Mangione tells press that client is pleading not guilty, fighting extradition
Thomas Dickey said the Pennsylvania Constitution says that ‘all crimes are generally a bailable offense
Thomas Dickey, the lawyer of Luigi Mangione, who has been arraigned on the charge of murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has said his client is pleading not guilty and fighting extradition to New York.
"He has indicated a plea of not guilty. The only charges that we've seen thus far, have been the ones here in Pennsylvania - in Pennsylvania. And we have pled not guilty to those charges," Dickey said, according to a report in The Associated Press.
"In Pennsylvania, the Constitution says that all crimes are generally a bailable offense. Bailable offense means you have to set some form of bail. The exception to that is if it's a capital case, which is - which means the Commonwealth or the Government is looking for the death penalty.
Videos of Mangione being taken to the the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, had surfaced. Mangione was arrested in Altoona, 235 miles from Manhattan, on Monday after a McDonald's employee alerted security agencies. Thompson was gunned down in Manhattan on December 4.
Dickey said: "Or a first degree - first degree murder, which carries in Pennsylvania life without parole. If the charge which you're faced with is life without parole, then you're not eligible for bail. Since the crime, at least what was set forth by the district attorney, was alleged to be a second-degree murder, that's not life without parole. So, I believe that bail should have been set.
"Now, you've got to understand, when you set bail, the judge could set $1 million bail. It could be $5 million bail. But, you know, damn it, you get bail."
On Tuesday, Dickey told the press that his client, Luigi Mangione, is not guilty for any criminal charges in last week's killing of United Healthcare's CEO.
Dickey told the court earlier that Mangione wants a hearing on the extradition issue from Pennsylvania to New York. He has 14 days to challenge the detention. Prosecutors, meanwhile, have a month to seek a governor’s warrant out of New York.
The 26-year-old man appeared in a Pennsylvania courtroom Tuesday, where he was denied bail.
Mangione was arrested Monday in the Dec. 4 attack on Brian Thompson after police say a worker at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, alerted them to a customer who resembled the suspected gunman. When arrested, Mangione had on him a gun that investigators believe was used in the attack and writings expressing anger at corporate America, police said.
AP video shot by: Mark Scolforo
