Luigi Mangione retains a skilled New York lawyer as he faces second-degree murder charges

CNN
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Luigi Mangione has retained a high-powered New York attorney to represent him as he faces a second-degree murder charge in the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, CNN has learned.

Karen Friedman Agnifilo will represent him in New York. Friedman Agnifilo previously worked as a chief assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office under Cyrus Vance Jr. for seven years and is a veteran with extensive experience in the New York City criminal justice system. She has worked in private practice since 2021.

“She has as much experience as any human being, especially in state court,” a longtime New York prosecutor told CNN. “She knows every corridor, every judge, every clerk in the courthouse.”

Friedman Agnifilo, who previously served as a CNN legal analyst, declined to comment.

Mangione’s new attorney will take up his case as investigators have gathered new evidence in recent days, with police telling CNN this week that the 3D-printed gun he was carrying when he was arrested matches the three shell casings found at the crime scene in Midtown Manhattan. His fingerprints also matched those investigators found on items near the scene.

The fingerprint and firearm revelations come as authorities dig into Mangione, who remains in custody in Pennsylvania on gun-related charges as he fights extradition to New York. As of Friday, however, there were indications that Mangione “may waive” his extradition next week, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Pennsylvania Judge Dave Consiglio on Tuesday denied Mangione bail on both state documents and said he would remain at Huntingdon State Correctional Institution.

Mangione also faces four other charges, including one count of forgery of a document and criminal possession of a firearm.

His attorney in Pennsylvania has declined to say whether Mangione’s prominent Baltimore family is footing his legal bills, though Thomas Dickey told CNN this week that the public had offered to contribute.

A representative for Friedman Agnifilo declined to comment on who is paying his legal fees.

While Mangione is fighting extradition, a Pennsylvania court has given him 14 days to file for habeas corpus — which puts the burden of proof on those detaining the person to justify the detention — and a hearing will be scheduled if he does.

Pennsylvania prosecutors have 30 days to get a gubernatorial order, which New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she will work with prosecutors to sign, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro “is prepared to sign and process … immediately, as soon as it has been received.”

Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks said his office is prepared to “do whatever is necessary” to get Mangione back to New York.

Dickey has denied his client’s involvement in the New York killing and expects him to plead not guilty to the murder, among other charges. Mangione also plans to plead not guilty to Pennsylvania charges related to a gun and fake ID police say they found when they arrested him in Altoona, Dickey said.

The suspect appeared to be driven by anger against the health insurance industry and against “corporate greed” as a whole, according to an NYPD intelligence report obtained by CNN on Tuesday.

“He appeared to view the targeted killing of the company’s highest-ranking representative as a symbolic takedown and a direct challenge to its alleged corruption and ‘power play,’ and claimed in his memo that he is the ‘first to meet it with so brutal honesty,’ ‘” says the NYPD assessment, which was based on Mangione’s “manifesto” and social media.

Along with a three-page handwritten “claim of responsibility” found on Mangione when he was taken into custody, investigators are looking at the suspect’s writing in a spiral notebook, a law enforcement source told CNN.