Luigi Mangione’s defense attorney Thomas Dickey weighed in on the 26-year-old’s outburst Tuesday ahead of his extradition hearing in Pennsylvania, claiming in a CNN interview Wednesday that he had “agitated” over going into court without legal representation.
“He’s irritated. Agitated about what’s happening to him and what he’s being accused of,” Dickey told CNN’s Erin Burnett when probed if he would plead not guilty by way of insanity or another reason. “He never had any legal representation until he walked into that building yesterday.”
Dickey went on to explain that his client, the top suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, began acting differently after his extradition hearing because he finally found “somebody that he can trust.”
“If you notice, look at the film, look at the difference between when he went in and when he came out,” Dickey said. “Once he got in, he finally had legal representation. I like to think he had somebody that he can trust and has faith in. Now he has a spokesperson and someone that’s going to fight for him.”
When being escorted into a Pennsylvania courthouse for his extradition hearing Tuesday, Mangione angrily yelled out to reporters: “It’s extremely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience.”
While it’s unclear what he was exactly referring to, Dickey interpreted Mangione’s outburst as “frustration of being a young man thrown in jail” and reiterated the “big difference” in his demeanor after being appointed a lawyer.
During his interview Wednesday evening, Dickey shared that the first time he made contact with Mangione was when he walked through the courthouse’s door for his extradition hearing.
He also said that he was “upset that [Mangione] didn’t have any legal counsel prior to that” and went on to explain that he’s predominantly been learning about the evidence police are finding through the news.
“I appreciate the job you guys do as reporters because I’m actually using different news reports as my source of information because nobody’s sharing these evidentiary things with me,” Dickey said, while adding that he likely won’t see any police reports before Mangione’s scheduled hearing for his Pennsylvania charges on Dec. 23.
Evidence suggesting that Mangione was Thompson’s killer has been steadily mounting, with police disclosing Wednesday that the gun he had on him during his arrest matched the shell casings found at the crime scene in New York. Law enforcement have also been able to make a fingerprint match from Mangione’s gun to prints obtained from a water bottle and energy bar wrapper found near the crime scene.
