Murder Defendant Pleads Not Guilty In CEO Shooting

Mangione's lawyer said politicians had turned the case into a spectacle.

- JAMES FANELLI

Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty Monday to state murder charges in the killing of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson, with his lawyer railing that New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other politicians had turned the case into a public spectacle.

Mangione, dressed in a maroon sweater, white-collar shirt and gray pants, only spoke once to enter the plea during his arraignment in a Manhattan court.

His lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, told the judge that her client’s constitutional rights had been violated when heavily armed law-enforcement officers marched him before news cameras last week after he was transported to lower Manhattan to face charges in both state and federal courts.

“They are literally treating him like he is some sort of political fodder, some sort of spectacle,” Agnifilo said.