Someone tucked a heart-shaped note of encouragement into socks packed for Luigi Mangione to wear to court last month in the UnitedHealthcare CEO murder case, prosecutors said in a filing made public on Wednesday.
A court officer intercepted the note, which urged the jailed defendant to “know there are thousands of people wishing you luck," Manhattan prosecutors wrote in responding to recent requests from Mangione's defense lawyers.
They include a bid for him to get a laptop to review legal material in his cell while he awaits trial in the December shooting death of Brian Thompson, 50. Thompson was killed outside a midtown hotel where the health insurer was holding an investor conference.
Mangione, 26, has pleaded not guilty. A message seeking comment on prosecutors' filing was sent to his lawyers.
Objecting to the proposed laptop as a request for unmerited special treatment, prosecutor Joel Seidemann wrote “special treatment to the defendant’s benefit was violated when (prosecutors) made accommodations for defendant’s fashion needs during the last court appearance.”
Most jailed defendants wear jail uniforms at routine court dates when there's no jury present, the prosecutor explained. Mangione, however, was allowed to change into clothes brought by his legal team for the Feb. 21 hearing.
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Mangione has attracted a cult following as a stand-in for frustrations over health insurance coverage denials and hefty medical bills, and dozens of his supporters showed up for the hearing. One sported a green “Luigi” hat from the “Mario Bros.” video game franchise and many wore green, the Luigi character’s color, as a symbol of solidarity.
Mangione himself wore a green sweater, “consistent with what his sympathizers were calling for supporters to wear," Seidemann noted.
Some elected officials and others have decried the fascination with Mangione as glorifying violence and vigilantism.
The note — plus another heart-shaped message addressed to someone called “Joan” — was hidden in a piece of cardboard at the center of a new pair of Argyle socks, Seidemann wrote. It’s not clear who wrote the note or slipped it into the socks. The filing didn’t say, and prosecutors later declined to elaborate.
Mangione donned the socks but later took them off “because he felt that ‘they did not look good,’” according to Seidemann.
Mangione appeared in court in loafers, his bare ankles shackled.
In addition to the Manhattan case, Mangione faces federal charges in Thompson’s killing and state-level gun possession and other charges in Pennsylvania. He hasn't entered any pleas in those cases.
