"Yes, it's a fight over a backpack - how it was seized, how it was searched, and whether the gun and notebook found inside will be tossed or kept as knockout-blow evidence in a future murder trial. But Luigi Mangione's ongoing evidence suppression hearing, playing out for two weeks in a Manhattan courtroom, is more than that. The serious legal battle features an often amusing undercard bout: repeatedsparring over nothing more than the naming of things."
"Was UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson shot on a Midtown sidewalk last year? Or was he "executed?" Is the red notebook found inside Mangione's backpack a "manifesto," or a "journal?" And is the aluminum-lined pouch found in Mangione's backpack a "Faraday bag," meant to block his cellphone from being tracked during a five-day manhunt? Or was the bag simply "waterproof?""
"It all depends on who is standing at the courtroom's podium: lead defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo or top prosecutor Joel Seidemann. These pretrial rhetorical rumbles foreshadow how intensely these two adversaries - seasoned legal veterans with decadeslong experience - will fight next year, at a yet-scheduled trial in the same state-level courtroom. The temperament of the judge is also being previewed. NY Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro has alternated between seeming mildly irked and utterly unfazed as he's refereed these sporadic wars of words over the past two weeks."
A Manhattan evidence suppression hearing focuses on whether a backpack seized from Luigi Mangione can yield admissible evidence, including a gun and a red notebook. Lawyers are contesting how the backpack was seized and searched and whether items inside should be excluded. The parties are also sharply debating descriptive labels — terms such as "execution," "manifesto," and "Faraday" — as part of broader rhetorical strategy. The exchanges between lead defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo and prosecutor Joel Seidemann reveal how aggressively both sides will litigate at trial. Judge Gregory Carro has intermittently intervened while presiding over the proceedings.
Read at Business Insider
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