“Put the system on trial,” read one.
“No Death for Luigi Mangione,” read another.
The signs outside of a New York City courtroom Friday help deliver the message that the crowd gathered nearby couldn’t give inside. They did not want to see Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of killing a healthcare CEO in cold blood, to be executed if found guilty. Inside, prosecutors faced the man they announced a day earlier they want to execute if convicted and a jury recommends
That day is likely months, if not years, away.
Friday served as the first chance for those following the case to voice their thought on the Justice Department’s decision. Those in the crowd insisted they were not “fans” of the accused killer as portrayed. Authorities say the Ivy League graduate fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December outside of a Midtown Manhattan hotel before fleeing to Altoona, Pennsylvania, where he was arrested nearly a week later.
The nation-gripping search for the suspect, divisive reactions in the wake of the killing and media attention around the case has been nothing short of sensational. The case has prompted some to defend the suspected murderer for a host of reasons. Those in Friday's crowd said they were not there for his looks. Unlike previous protests, most didn’t mention the anger at the American healthcare system that some have speculated as a motive for the murder. Instead, they said it was because of the official announcement that prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.
"The way they're bringing the death penalty onto Luigi is a political game," a New Yorker who goes by Kelly told The Independent. Noting the wide-ranging reactions to the December 4 killing, Kelly said she believes the government recognizes that Americans stand behind putting an end to for-profit health insurance companies and "corporate greed."
"I'm out here to protest the system of violence," she continued. "The system isn't working. The system is broken."
The movement "is not really about him. It's about something he woke people up to," she said, taking issue with how Mangione's demonstrators are portrayed — as fangirls obsessed with an attractive young man and support his alleged crime.
"I'm gay and want to show we're not just here because people have a crush," she added.
“Sure, he’s cute,” Nadine Seiler admitted as she stood in the crowd.
However, she said that wasn’t her motivation to travel from Maryland for the case. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s directive was “arbitrary” and is “being misused” in this case, the woman wearing a green Super Mario’s Luigi cap and bunny ears reading “Free Luigi” told The Independent.
The Justice Department’s decision “sends a message to dissenters to say this is what you could expect,” Seiler claimed.
Seiler made reference to recent remarks by Trump’s counterterrorism czar Sebastian Gorka, who claimed last week that those who don’t support the president’s anti-immigration agenda are “on the side of the terrorists.” Gorka added that advocates for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the wrongfully deported Salvadoran man, could be prosecuted for “aiding and abetting.”
Seiler read Gorka’s comments as “trying to intimidate protesters.” She added: “You could be next” if you dissent from the Trump administration.
Breigh Marquisette, a paralegal from Philadelphia, said she was “here because I’m a fan of due process” and doesn’t support how politics appear to be getting involved in the case.
“You can’t just pick and choose,” Marquisette said, noting the El Paso's District Attorney decision last month to let the gunman, who pleaded guilty to killing 23 people in a racist attack targeting Hispanic shoppers at a Walmart in Texas in 2019, avoid the death penalty. The federal government made the same decision in 2023, when Joe Biden was president; he imposed a federal moratorium on the death sentence.
Others, such as Bill Dobbs with the nonprofit Death Penalty Action, said they were against executions in all circumstances and the death penalty a "violation of human rights" that "throws the rest of our justice system out of whack." He also took issue with the dual prosecutions between federal and state charges in the case.
“It’s a scary amount of state power,” Dobbs told The Independent. “I’d like to see him get a fair shake.”
Inside the courtroom, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Mangione’s attorney, made a similar point. She denounced the “unprecedented simultaneous dual prosecutions” that have led to some issues. The 26-year-old is also facing 11 criminal counts in New York state, including murder, as well as other charges in Pennsylvania, where he was captured by authorities following a six-day manhunt last December. He has pleaded not guilty in New York and has yet to make a plea in Pennsylvania.
One of these issues, Agnifilo told the judge, involved “inadvertent” eavesdropping on calls between her and Mangione by the state prosecutors; the recordings were given to the state by federal prosecutors, she alleged. The federal prosecutors said this was the first time they were hearing of this claim.
The judge told prosecutors to ensure Mangione had access to a secure phone line for attorney-client calls and needed to write a letter with updates on the matter by May 2.
Mangione, unshackled and sporting beige prison guard, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder through use of a firearm, two counts of stalking and a firearms offense. His signature curls were trimmed and he was clean-shaven. He hunched over at times, seemingly taking notes throughout the day’s proceeding that he passed to Agnifilo.
The brief hearing was mostly procedural as his federal case moves forward and is likely the first to be heard. It could also be the one that decides Mangione’s fate and whether he will be executed — a push that Agnifilo has spent weeks blasting.
"Their decision to execute Luigi is political and goes against the recommendation of the local federal prosecutors, the law, and historical precedent," she previously stated.
