On Monday, several dozen members of the public are lined up outside 100 Centre Street in Lower Manhattan, hoping to squeeze into the courtroom to hear testimony from witnesses called by the state against Luigi Mangione — the man accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson a year ago.
Despite the endless news coverage, viral memes, and photos seen by millions of people, the group that shows up to hearings has thinned out significantly since the court date in February, when hundreds gathered outside and in the courthouse. There is a small demonstration ramping up, organized by healthcare reform group People Over Profit NYC. I recognize many of the people in line trying to get inside from previous hearings I’ve attended. It’s not the same rowdy, chaotic scene from February; like other grassroots movements, it has professionalized. Supporters hire line-sitters, come with custom T-shirts, and have developed a suspicion of reporters looking for soundbites. When they do speak to the press, many are careful about staying on-message: the focus is on a fair trial, they say, and their presence as supporters is an act of protest.
Some members of the public waited for days outside the courthouse.
Meanwhile, actual hoards of reporters and photographers descend upon the Manhattan courthouse. There are far more members of the media here than there are Mangione supporters, with multiple crowded press lines and television crews in tents set up down the block. Photographers set up phones on tripods to livestream the action to fans online. News outlets spin up alliterative, rage-bait headlines. (the New York Post went with “MANGIONE AND THE MANIACS.”)
The narrative battle is in full swing. Even before Mangione was arrested and charged with Thompson’s murder, public perception of the killing was central to the story of the crime. For every article of the shooting, there was another focused on the “celebrating” that was coming from people online. For some commentators and observers, the reaction that seemed to be shared by a wide range of people was just as shocking as the killing itself. From the beginning, the general public was a party to the spectacle, a shapeless but undeniable force in the case against — or for — Mangione.
As the case moves toward trial, image management remains at its heart. Mangione’s wardrobe has become a matter of national attention. Supporters and opponents fight over how he should be walked into the courtroom and whether he should appear in restraints, something the legal team argues hurts his right to a fair trial — he’s pleaded not guilty to all charges. (In addition to the New York state case, Mangione is also facing charges in Pennsylvania and in a federal case, where there is the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.) And the week’s hearings concern what, in a case that’s been marked from the beginning by massive information overload, should be fair game for a jury to see.
Mangione appeared in court for the first day of a series of pre-trial hearings, clad in a dark gray suit and light dress shirt. (It was announced last month that he would have two suits, three shirts, three sweaters, three pairs of pants, five pairs of socks, and a pair of shoes without laces.) Unlike in September, when Mangione had spent his time at court shackled and in a khaki prison uniform, his hands were uncuffed during the hours-long hearing, allowing him to take notes and move more freely. Supporters still questioned procedure: Why was Mangione brought into court through a side door, rather than past the gaggle of photographers waiting in the hallway? Whose idea was it to do it this way? What’s with the officers of the court standing behind him in courtroom pictures? Why isn’t Mangione sitting next to his lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo? Are they on bad terms? Why’d they cut his hair like that? And most importantly, does all of this benefit New York State prosecutors or Mangione’s defense?
Ico Ahyicodae, an organizer with healthcare reform group People Over Profit NYC, outside the courthouse.
On one hand, the atmosphere inside the courtroom is largely calm. People are on their best behavior, and the drama and theatrics of whatever is happening outside — protests, Nintendo costumes, LED billboards — is shut down promptly. But there is still the unmistakable feeling that there is a larger audience beyond the 100 or so people in the benches. Everything said in court will be immediately disseminated on social media, which will be linked and screenshotted and reshared on Reddit, where Mangione supporters are watching for live updates to come through. Some of the attendees in person will go back in the evening and do ask me anything-style Q&As for other fans. Each small moment will be dissected ad nauseum as the Mangione base gets more and more information to feast on. At times it feels like the internet has crash-landed into Judge Gregory Carro’s courtroom: there’s all the pomp and circumstance of the legal system, and then two rows in the back of people dressed in various green outfits or meme-y slogan T-shirts.
The recent slew of hearings have to do with what evidence will be barred from being shown to jurors if it goes to a jury trial. Mangione’s defense argues that key evidence collected when he was arrested in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s — including a notebook and a handgun found in a backpack — should be suppressed because it was obtained without a warrant. The defense is also looking to get statements Mangione initially made to Altoona, Pennsylvania, police thrown out on the basis that they failed to read him his Miranda rights before questioning him.
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