New York
Former NYC prosecutor to represent suspect in killing of CEO
NEW YORK (AP) — The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO has added a prominent defense lawyer to his legal team as Manhattan prosecutors work to return him from Pennsylvania to face a murder charge.
Luigi Mangione will be represented by Karen Friedman Agnifilo, who was a high-ranking deputy in the Manhattan district attorney’s office for years before entering private practice.
Friedman Agnifilo’s law firm, Agnifilo Intrater LLP, confirmed in a statement late Friday that she had been retained to represent Mangione. The firm said she will not be commenting on the case at this time.
Mangione was arrested Monday after a customer at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, saw him eating breakfast and noticed a resemblance to the person being sought by police in the Dec. 4 killing of Brian Thompson in Manhattan.
Police say Mangione was found with a gun, mask and writings linking him to the ambush outside the New York Hilton Midtown, where Thompson was arriving for his company’s annual investor conference.
Mangione, 26, remained jailed without bail Saturday in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with gun and forgery offenses. Altoona is about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City.
Mangione’s lawyer there, Thomas Dickey, has cautioned against prejudging the case and said that his client would contest his extradition to New York.
But Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Friday that there were indications Mangione may now give up on that fight.
Hours after Mangione’s arrest on Monday, Bragg’s office filed paperwork charging him with five counts, including intentional murder, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a forged instrument.
Mangione’s new lawyer, Friedman Agnifilo, was the Chief Assistant District Attorney from 2014 to 2021 and was previously chief of the office’s trial division. She has made frequent TV appearances, including as a CNN legal analyst, co-hosts a weekly podcast and is the legal adviser for “Law & Order.”
Her husband and law partner Mark Agnifilo is representing Sean “Diddy” Combs in the hip-hop mogul’s Manhattan federal sex trafficking case.
Nevada
U.S. jury awards $34 million to exonerated woman who served 16 years
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A federal jury in Nevada has awarded more than $34 million to a woman who was arrested at age 18, wrongly convicted twice, and served nearly 16 years in a Nevada state prison for a 2001 killing she did not commit.
Kristin Lobato, who is now 41 and uses the name Blaise, cried and hugged her attorneys after a judge read the trial verdict Thursday in U.S. District Court, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
“It’s been an uphill battle with many, many obstacles,” she told reporters. “And I’m happy that it’s all finally finished.”
Lobato said she didn’t know if becoming a millionaire would make up for years in prison, adding that she had “no idea what the rest of my life is going to look like.”
The civil trial jury found Las Vegas police and two detectives, now retired, fabricated evidence during their investigation and intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon Lobato. The panel determined that Lobato should receive $34 million in compensatory damages from the department and $10,000 in punitive damages from each former detective.
The detectives, Thomas Thowsen and James LaRochelle, and their attorney, Craig Anderson, declined to comment outside court. Anderson told U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware he planned to file additional court documents following the verdict. Anderson said Friday an appeal was “likely.”
The department previously agreed to pay damages if the jury ruled in Lobato’s favor.
Lobato was 18 when she was interviewed by police without an attorney, arrested and charged with killing Duran Bailey in Las Vegas in July 2001. Bailey, who had been homeless, was found dead near a trash bin with a slashed neck, cracked skull and missing genitals.
No physical evidence or witnesses connected Lobato to the killing, and she maintained she never met Bailey. But police maintained she confessed in jail that she had killed a man who tried to rape her during a three-day methamphetamine binge.
Lobato was 19 when she was convicted of murder in 2002. The Nevada Supreme Court threw out that verdict and Lobato’s prison sentence in 2004 because her lawyers weren’t able to cross-examine a prosecution witness who testified that Lobato made the jailhouse confession.
Lobato was tried again in 2006, convicted of manslaughter, mutilation and weapon charges, and sentenced to 13 to 45 years in prison.
She was exonerated and freed from prison in late 2017 after the Innocence Project and attorneys in Las Vegas again took her case to the state Supreme Court. Justices said evidence showed that Lobato was in her hometown of Panaca, Nevada, some 150 miles (214 kilometers) from Las Vegas when Bailey was killed.
Last October, a state court judge in Las Vegas issued a certificate declaring Lobato innocent of Bailey’s killing.
California
Leader of white supremacist group gets two years in prison
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The leader of a Southern California white supremacist group was sentenced Friday to two years in federal prison for inciting violence at California political rallies in 2017.
Robert Paul Rundo, 34, pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Riot Act, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said.
“Hate and violence are antithetical to American values and tear at our community. It is therefore critical that we protect the civil and constitutional rights of our community against those who promote divisiveness,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement.
Rundo’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Prosecutors say Rundo co-founded the Rise Above Movement, which they describe as “a combat-ready, militant group of a new nationalist white supremacy and identity movement.” He and two others were accused of planning and engaging in violence at gatherings in Huntington Beach, Berkeley and San Bernardino in 2017.
Rundo was arrested in 2018 for inciting violence at California protests and at a deadly riot in Charlottesville, Virginia. A federal court dismissed the charges in 2019, but they were reinstated by a federal appeals court in 2021.
Rundo had left the United States after the charges were dismissed and was extradited last year from Romania when they were reinstated.
Former NYC prosecutor to represent suspect in killing of CEO
NEW YORK (AP) — The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO has added a prominent defense lawyer to his legal team as Manhattan prosecutors work to return him from Pennsylvania to face a murder charge.
Luigi Mangione will be represented by Karen Friedman Agnifilo, who was a high-ranking deputy in the Manhattan district attorney’s office for years before entering private practice.
Friedman Agnifilo’s law firm, Agnifilo Intrater LLP, confirmed in a statement late Friday that she had been retained to represent Mangione. The firm said she will not be commenting on the case at this time.
Mangione was arrested Monday after a customer at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, saw him eating breakfast and noticed a resemblance to the person being sought by police in the Dec. 4 killing of Brian Thompson in Manhattan.
Police say Mangione was found with a gun, mask and writings linking him to the ambush outside the New York Hilton Midtown, where Thompson was arriving for his company’s annual investor conference.
Mangione, 26, remained jailed without bail Saturday in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with gun and forgery offenses. Altoona is about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City.
Mangione’s lawyer there, Thomas Dickey, has cautioned against prejudging the case and said that his client would contest his extradition to New York.
But Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Friday that there were indications Mangione may now give up on that fight.
Hours after Mangione’s arrest on Monday, Bragg’s office filed paperwork charging him with five counts, including intentional murder, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a forged instrument.
Mangione’s new lawyer, Friedman Agnifilo, was the Chief Assistant District Attorney from 2014 to 2021 and was previously chief of the office’s trial division. She has made frequent TV appearances, including as a CNN legal analyst, co-hosts a weekly podcast and is the legal adviser for “Law & Order.”
Her husband and law partner Mark Agnifilo is representing Sean “Diddy” Combs in the hip-hop mogul’s Manhattan federal sex trafficking case.
Nevada
U.S. jury awards $34 million to exonerated woman who served 16 years
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A federal jury in Nevada has awarded more than $34 million to a woman who was arrested at age 18, wrongly convicted twice, and served nearly 16 years in a Nevada state prison for a 2001 killing she did not commit.
Kristin Lobato, who is now 41 and uses the name Blaise, cried and hugged her attorneys after a judge read the trial verdict Thursday in U.S. District Court, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
“It’s been an uphill battle with many, many obstacles,” she told reporters. “And I’m happy that it’s all finally finished.”
Lobato said she didn’t know if becoming a millionaire would make up for years in prison, adding that she had “no idea what the rest of my life is going to look like.”
The civil trial jury found Las Vegas police and two detectives, now retired, fabricated evidence during their investigation and intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon Lobato. The panel determined that Lobato should receive $34 million in compensatory damages from the department and $10,000 in punitive damages from each former detective.
The detectives, Thomas Thowsen and James LaRochelle, and their attorney, Craig Anderson, declined to comment outside court. Anderson told U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware he planned to file additional court documents following the verdict. Anderson said Friday an appeal was “likely.”
The department previously agreed to pay damages if the jury ruled in Lobato’s favor.
Lobato was 18 when she was interviewed by police without an attorney, arrested and charged with killing Duran Bailey in Las Vegas in July 2001. Bailey, who had been homeless, was found dead near a trash bin with a slashed neck, cracked skull and missing genitals.
No physical evidence or witnesses connected Lobato to the killing, and she maintained she never met Bailey. But police maintained she confessed in jail that she had killed a man who tried to rape her during a three-day methamphetamine binge.
Lobato was 19 when she was convicted of murder in 2002. The Nevada Supreme Court threw out that verdict and Lobato’s prison sentence in 2004 because her lawyers weren’t able to cross-examine a prosecution witness who testified that Lobato made the jailhouse confession.
Lobato was tried again in 2006, convicted of manslaughter, mutilation and weapon charges, and sentenced to 13 to 45 years in prison.
She was exonerated and freed from prison in late 2017 after the Innocence Project and attorneys in Las Vegas again took her case to the state Supreme Court. Justices said evidence showed that Lobato was in her hometown of Panaca, Nevada, some 150 miles (214 kilometers) from Las Vegas when Bailey was killed.
Last October, a state court judge in Las Vegas issued a certificate declaring Lobato innocent of Bailey’s killing.
California
Leader of white supremacist group gets two years in prison
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The leader of a Southern California white supremacist group was sentenced Friday to two years in federal prison for inciting violence at California political rallies in 2017.
Robert Paul Rundo, 34, pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Riot Act, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said.
“Hate and violence are antithetical to American values and tear at our community. It is therefore critical that we protect the civil and constitutional rights of our community against those who promote divisiveness,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement.
Rundo’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Prosecutors say Rundo co-founded the Rise Above Movement, which they describe as “a combat-ready, militant group of a new nationalist white supremacy and identity movement.” He and two others were accused of planning and engaging in violence at gatherings in Huntington Beach, Berkeley and San Bernardino in 2017.
Rundo was arrested in 2018 for inciting violence at California protests and at a deadly riot in Charlottesville, Virginia. A federal court dismissed the charges in 2019, but they were reinstated by a federal appeals court in 2021.
Rundo had left the United States after the charges were dismissed and was extradited last year from Romania when they were reinstated.
