PA case against Luigi Mangione on hold as Feds refuse to transport him to court and lawyers assert his right to appear in person

Luigi Mangione's trial in Pennsylvania has been put on hold after the murder suspect has refused to appear remotely. Mangione remains in custody in New York on federal and state charges against him, and the judge in the Pennsylvania case has given Mangione and his defense attorneys 14 days to file a formal request for an in-person hearing or reconsider a remote appearance.

Mangione was scheduled to appear in court on November 7, however, his defense argued that he had a right to be at his trial in person and the hearing was canceled. Federal authorities have kept him from being moved to Pennsylvania for the charges in the state. The move may see the New York and Federal cases against him play out before he is transferred out for court appearances in Pennsylvania, per CBS News. 

Mangione has been charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson when the executive was outside a hotel in New York City for a conference. He has pleaded not guilty to federal charges, including using a firearm to commit murder. He has also pleaded not guilty to state charges that were filed in New York and Pennsylvania.

The shooting of Thompson led to a days-long manhunt for Mangione, and he was taken into custody in Altoona, Pennsylvania on December 9, 2024. Other state charges include that he was carrying a firearm without a license, forgery, false identification to law enforcement, possessing instruments in crime, and others.

A manifesto was also found when police arrested Mangione, which stated, "To the Feds, I'll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn't working with anyone. This was fairly trivial: some elementary social engineering, basic CAD, a lot of patience. The spiral notebook, if present, has some straggling notes and To Do lists that illuminate the gist of it."

"My tech is pretty locked down because I work in engineering so probably not much info there. I do apologize for any strife of traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming. A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy," the manifesto added.