Based on what I have read, I think they have a pretty strong chance of getting the backpack search and gun thrown out.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/28/us/lu...rch/index.html


A lawyer for Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO last year, is attempting to throw out evidence taken from his backpack and other belongings collected during his arrest, arguing he was illegally stopped and searched by police.

In a motion filed last week in a Pennsylvania court, Mangione’s lawyer Thomas Dickey said he seeks to toss more than two dozen items, including a 3D-printed gun, a fake driver’s license, and a notebook collected by police when Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona following an intense manhunt.

The filing reveals for the first time specific details of local police’s confrontation and arrest of Mangione and a detailed list of the materials found in his backpack.
Dickey argues in his motion that Altoona police illegally searched Mangione’s backpack and took other items without a search warrant. Altoona police officers approached Mangione when we has sitting at a table in McDonald’s saying he “looked suspicious” and had stayed too long inside the restaurant. The attorney said the officers then frisked Mangione, took his backpack and other items, and blocked him from leaving the McDonald’s.

Mangione was questioned by officers, was not read his Miranda rights or “given any information as to why he was being held,” for more than 15 minutes, Dickey wrote.

Later, Mangione was asked his name and read his Miranda rights, the attorney said. Police then arrested Mangione.

The motion provides a detailed list of other materials found in Mangione’s backpack or in his possession. Those items include a suspected 3D-printed silencer, written notes, a laptop, two jackets, face masks, a US passport, a fake New Jersey driver’s license, currency and multiple USB electronic storage devices, including one on a necklace, according to the petition.

Mangione’s attorneys are planning to make a similar request for his New York state case.