Luigi Mangione retains high-powered New York attorney as he faces second-degree murder charge

By Kaitlan Collins, CNN

(CNN) — Luigi Mangione has retained a high-powered New York attorney to represent him as he faces a second-degree murder charge in the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, CNN has learned.

Karen Friedman Agnifilo will represent him in New York. Friedman Agnifilo previously worked as the chief assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office under Cyrus Vance Jr. for seven years and is a veteran with deep experience in New York City’s criminal justice system. She has worked in private practice since 2021.

“She’s got as much experience as any human being, especially in the state court,” one longtime New York prosecutor told CNN. “She knows every corridor, every judge, every clerk in the courthouse.”

Friedman Agnifilo, who previously served as a CNN legal analyst, declined to comment.

Mangione’s new attorney will be taking on his case as investigators have amassed new evidence in recent days, with police telling CNN this week the 3D-printed gun he had on him when he was arrested matches the three shell casings found at the crime scene in Midtown Manhattan. His fingerprints also matched those investigators found on items near the scene.

The fingerprint and firearms disclosures come as authorities dig into Mangione, who remains in custody in Pennsylvania on gun-related charges as he fights extradition to New York. As of Friday, however, there were indications Mangione “may waive” his extradition next week, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Pennsylvania state Judge Dave Consiglio denied Mangione bail on Tuesday related to both state dockets, saying he would remain at the Huntingdon State Correctional Institution.

Mangione is also facing four other charges, including one count of forging a document and criminally possessing a firearm.

His attorney in Pennsylvania has declined to say if Mangione’s prominent Baltimore family is fronting his legal bills, though Thomas Dickey told CNN this week members of the public had offered to contribute.

A representative for Friedman Agnifilo declined to comment on who is paying his legal fees.

With Mangione fighting extradition, a Pennsylvania court has given him 14 days to file for writ of habeas corpus – putting the burden of proof on those detaining the person to justify the detention – and a hearing will be scheduled if he does.

Pennsylvania prosecutors have 30 days to get a governor’s warrant, which New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she will work with prosecutors to sign and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro “is prepared to sign and process … promptly as soon as it is received.”

Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks said his office is prepared “to do what’s necessary” to get Mangione back to New York.

Dickey has denied his client’s involvement in the killing in New York and anticipates he will plead not guilty there to the murder charge, among other counts. Mangione also plans to plead not guilty to Pennsylvania charges related to a gun and fake ID police say they found when they arrested him in Altoona, Dickey said.

The suspect appeared to be driven by anger against the health insurance industry and against “corporate greed” as a whole, according to an NYPD intelligence report obtained Tuesday by CNN.

“He appeared to view the targeted killing of the company’s highest-ranking representative as a symbolic takedown and a direct challenge to its alleged corruption and ‘power games,’ asserting in his note he is the ‘first to face it with such brutal honesty,’” says the NYPD assessment, which was based on Mangione’s “manifesto” and social media.

Along with a three-page handwritten “claim of responsibility” found on Mangione when he was taken into custody, investigators are looking at the suspect’s writing in a spiral notebook, a law enforcement source briefed on the matter told CNN.

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CNN’s John Miller contributed to this report.