Judge will allow alleged murder weapon at Luigi Mangione state trial

NEW YORK— A Manhattan judge on Monday both denied and granted bids by Luigi Mangione to suppress key evidence in his state homicide case — critically, allowing prosecutors to present the alleged murder weapon in a significant setback for the suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

State Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro’s written decision was published minutes before he took the bench at a packed hearing, where throngs of reporters and supporters of Mangione squeezed into the courtroom pews.

Carro in December held a weekslong hearing over the evidence, hearing from 17 witnesses — mostly officers from the police department in Altoona, Pennsylvania — about the circumstances of Mangione’s arrest at a McDonald’s on Dec. 9, 2024, five days after Thompson was shot dead in broad daylight outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown.

The judge’s decision held that the search at the McDonald’s was improper and violated Mangione’s rights, finding anything retrieved at the fast food restaurant must be suppressed, including a loaded magazine, Mangione’s cellphone, a Faraday bag, his passport, his wallet and a computer chip.

However, he said he would allow items that the police discovered back at the precinct, including a 3D-printed pistol and what prosecutors have described as a manifesto.

The suspected shooter’s lawyers argued that Altoona cops violated Mangione’s rights by carrying out a search of his belongings without a warrant under the guise of looking for explosives. The attorneys also sought to bar statements he made to the police before he’d been warned of his right to remain silent. The judge ruled that some of his statements at the restaurant must be suppressed, including when an officer asked him why he had lied about his name and if he had lied in presenting an ID under the name Mark Rosario.

Mangione, 28, of Maryland, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the case set for trial on Sept. 8. He also faces federal stalking charges in a parallel federal case slated for trial when his state matter resolves.

Authorities allege Mangione ambushed Thompson, a 51-year-old father of the two, as he arrived early to set up for an annual investor conference.

—New York Daily News

Alex Murdaugh sues former court clerk Becky Hill in federal court in jury tampering at his South Carolina murder trial

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Alex Murdaugh, the disbarred lawyer whose double-murder conviction was overturned last week, has filed a lawsuit alleging his civil rights were violated when clerk of court Rebecca “Becky” Hill tampered with the jury at his trial.

The 17-page lawsuit was filed in federal court in Columbia on Monday morning. It has already been assigned to U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie.

The Supreme Court’s ruling means that without any doubt Murdaugh was deprived of his “right to a fair trial” and Hill was the person — because of her jury tampering — who deprived him of that right, attorney Jim Griffin told some two dozen reporters at a press conference in Columbia shortly after noon Monday.

“As a result, we have to do it all over again, which nobody wants to do,” said Griffin, flanked by colleagues defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Phil Barber outside Harpootlian’s downtown Columbia law offices.

Murdaugh, 57, is seeking $600,000 and other compensatory damages, Griffin said.

“None of this money that is recovered will go to him personally,” Griffin said, acknowledging that Murdaugh’s history of stealing millions from clients while a lawyer in effect disqualify him from getting any money from a lawsuit.

In any case, Murdaugh is currently in state prison serving a 27-year state sentence for embezzling funds in state prison. When that sentence finishes, he will be transferred to federal prison, where he will finish out a 40-year sentence for fraud, money laundering and other crimes. He is not expected to be released until he is in his mid-80s or 90s.

In all, Murdaugh is estimated to have stolen more than $10 million from clients and his law firm.

—The State (Columbia, S.C.)

ICE agent charged in shooting of man in north Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge

MINNEAPOLIS — The Hennepin County attorney’s office issued a nationwide arrest warrant Monday for the ICE agent who allegedly shot a Venezuelan immigrant in north Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge and then lied about the circumstances that led to the shooting.

Christian J. Castro, 52, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with four counts of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime. The shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis on Jan. 14 came one week after ICE agent Jonathan Ross killed Renee Good and set off another wave of intense protests amid the largest immigration enforcement action in United States history.

Sosa-Celis and his roommate, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, were initially charged with assaulting a federal officer as Trump administration officials widely publicized their mug shots and former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called their alleged crime an act of “attempted murder.” The charges were later dropped when video evidence directly contradicted the story given by federal officers.

In an interview with The Minnesota Star Tribune before announcing the charges, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said Castro was identified as the shooter through two sources: a Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension interview at the site of the shooting and medical records from Castro’s visit to the hospital after the shooting.

“There was a very brief opportunity to do a joint investigation until that was squashed again,” Moriarty said. “In that timeframe (BCA agents) were able to be present when an ICE agent was interviewed and did identify people. We also got records from the medical facility where he went to receive treatment.”

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, former Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Sosa-Celis and Aljorna “began to resist and violently assault the officer” and that Castro — who they never identified — fired a defensive shot while on the ground because he feared for his life.

Moriarty said Castro received treatment for an abrasion on his hand and investigative evidence showed he was standing when he fired the shot.

—The Minnesota Star Tribune

American missionary has Ebola; US bans travel from area

A U.S. missionary has tested positive for the Ebola virus after being exposed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.

Satish Pillai, incident manager for the CDC’s Ebola response, said on a call with reporters that the missionary is showing symptoms and has been sent to Germany for supportive care. The CDC is also working to move to Germany six others who may have been exposed.

Serge Global, a Christian missionary organization, said on its website Monday that Peter Stafford, a doctor, was exposed to Ebola while treating patients at the Nyankunde Hospital in the Congo. The other two physicians with his group — including his wife — remain asymptomatic.

Earlier Monday, the U.S. banned non-citizens who have been in the DRC, South Sudan or Uganda within the previous three weeks from entering the country, part of an effort to protect against the deadly Ebola outbreak occurring in Africa.

The policy issued by the CDC using federal public health laws will last for the next 30 days. It includes “enhanced travel screening, entry restrictions and public health measures” to prevent the virus from entering the U.S., according to an update posted on the agency’s website.

The U.S. also paused all visa services in Uganda and the DRC on Monday. It had stopped providing travel visas to people from South Sudan under President Donald Trump’s travel ban last year.

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday, citing its spread across borders, unexplained deaths, health-care worker infections and uncertainty over the true scale of the epidemic.

—Bloomberg News