NEW YORK (AP) — A judge cleared the way Thursday for Luigi Mangione to get a laptop behind bars — if his jailers agree — so he can examine documents and other material in the UnitedHealthcare CEO murder case.
New York state Judge Gregory Carro wrote that he had “no objection” to Mangione’s request for the device, which would be configured to allow him only to review case materials. But Carro noted that it’s ultimately up to federal authorities who oversee the lockup where Mangione is awaiting trial in the December shooting death of Brian Thompson, the 50-year-old head of the biggest U.S. health insurer.
Thompson was ambushed while walking to a Manhattan hotel where the company was holding an investor conference.
Mangione, a prep school and Ivy League graduate whose family had reported him missing, has pleaded not guilty to New York charges that include murder as an act of terrorism. Also facing a federal murder charge, he is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal jail in Brooklyn. He hasn’t entered a plea in the federal case.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons said it would review the laptop request if formally submitted. If it is granted, the device would be kept in a visiting room for Mangione’s use.
Carro’s order came after he met virtually with prosecutors and Mangione’s lawyers Thursday morning. The Associated Press unsuccessfully requested that the discussion be moved to open court.
Court spokesperson Al Baker said judges sometimes hold “off-the-record virtual or in-person conferences” with both sides’ lawyers to discuss scheduling, evidence-gathering “and other related matters.”
Mangione was not at Thursday’s conference, Baker said.
Mangione’s lawyers asked Monday that he get a laptop to view a vast amount of documents, video and other items that prosecutors have gathered and turned over to the defense so far.
Mangione’s attorneys said the material is so voluminous that he can’t reasonably view it on the lockup’s shared computers for inmates, nor go over it all during visiting hours with his attorneys, so he needs a dedicated laptop to scrutinize the material and help prepare his defense.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the rare murder-as-an-act-of-terrorism case, objected to the laptop request. Prosecutors argued, among other things, that Mangione’s lawyers could show him the key case material.
During the back-and-forth over the laptop, prosecutors disclosed that someone slipped a handwritten, heart-shaped note of encouragement into socks that were intended for Mangione to wear to court last month. A court officer intercepted the message before the footgear got to Mangione.
His lawyers said they were unaware of the note when they brought him the clothes.
It’s not clear who wrote the note or hid it in the socks.
