Donations are pouring in to a fundraiser for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down a healthcare executive, ahead of his birthday.
Mangione, who pleaded not guilty last month to federal murder charges related to the December 2024 death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, turns 27 on May 6. In honor of his birthday, donors are contributing to the GiveSendGo fundraiser for his legal defense, which is now closing in on $1 million.
As of Sunday evening, the fundraiser had garnered more than $977,000. His legal team has said that he plans to use the cash toward his defense in all three cases he faces.
A string of supporters in the past few days have donated $27 to the fund for his 27th birthday. In their donation messages, many included green hearts, an ode to the green-clad Mario video game character Luigi.
The more that comes out about this case the more I believe that I’d vote not guilty if I were on the jury even regardless of politics.
First of all I don’t even believe he’s the same guy from the Starbucks footage (not the same guy as the hostel footage who you see smiling). But even ignoring that, the police apparently turned their body cam footage off while searching his bag and did it with his back turned. On top of that, they searched his bag once, packed it all up again, and then took it back to the station and searched it again where they found the gun. Any competent lawyer would be able to convince at least a few jurors that the gun was planted. However, the cops told him that he wasn’t under arrest or being detained, so searching his bag on site would mean that the evidence was obtained unlawfully (therefore inadmissible in court). And on top of all that, he was apparently never even read his Miranda rights.
That leaves the partial fingerprint they found on a water bottle of Mangione’s in NYC, which ties him to the location but is circumstantial at best. The fake ID probably has charges that don’t really amount to much, and with the contents of the bag (in any rational country) being unable to be admitted, what would they be able to convict him on other than that? The fake ID ties him to the location, but again, that is circumstantial.
I’m assuming there’s more evidence that hasn’t been made public because if there isn’t then this isn’t exactly a slam dunk case on the prosecutor’s part.