A federal judge gave Luigi Mangione permission to use a laptop from his cell to help his attorneys prepare for his trial, per an order handed down Monday.
Mangione will be able to use his laptop from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week to access the voluminous amount of discovery in his case, Federal Judge Margaret M. Garnett ruled Monday.
Mangione is being held in a federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, awaiting trial in a federal death penalty case accusing him of fatally shooting United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December.
Prosecutors accuse Mangione of killing Thompson Dec. 4 before fleeing to Altoona, where he was arrested Dec. 9, 2024, in a McDonald’s.
Mangione faces a second-degree murder charge in New York state court and felony forgery and firearms offenses in Pennsylvania.
His social media presence, particularly on platforms like X, saw a significant increase in followers after the shooting, with many expressing support while also criticizing the healthcare system.
Prosecutors have handed over more than 7 terabytes of discovery in the case to Mangione’s attorneys, and Mangione needed access to the laptop to be able to effectively assist in his own defense, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, his attorney, argued in a letter to the court Friday.
Incarcerated people awaiting trial in federal prison are also permitted to use “discovery laptops” from prison to prepare for trial, and the permission Mangione received is consistent with permission others have been given, his attorneys’ letter said.
Mangione’s attorneys provided a laptop to a third party who disabled its ability to connect to the internet or other networks.
They plan on handing it to prosecutors, who will upload all non-sensitive discovery into its hard drive before sending the laptop to the federal prison where Mangione is being held.
The Bureau of Prisons can ask for modifications to the order for operational or security reasons through prosecutors, the order said.
