New York
Judge will hold a limited hearing on seizure of Luigi Mangione’s backpack
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Monday said she will hold a short hearing in the next two weeks on procedures that police said allowed them to seize and look through Luigi Mangione’s backpack when he was arrested in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett said the hearing in the death penalty case will be limited to just one witness: an officer from the police department in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where Mangione was arrested in December 2024.
The officer, she said, must have “sufficient authority and experience to testify about the established or standardized procedures in use” at the time of Mangione’s arrest “for securing, safeguarding, and, if applicable, inventorying the personal property of a person arrested in a public place.”
She ordered prosecutors to confer with Mangione’s lawyers on a suitable hearing date, putting him back in court sooner than a scheduled Jan. 30 conference. Because the hearing will focus on procedures, the officer being called as a witness “need not have had any personal involvement” in Mangione’s arrest, Garnett said.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to federal and state murder charges, which carry the possibility of life in prison.
Mangione’s lawyers want Garnett to bar prosecutors from using certain items found in the backpack, including a gun police said matched the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which Mangione purportedly described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive. Echoing their arguments at a recent state court hearing, they contend the search was illegal because police had not yet obtained a
warrant.
Officers began searching the backpack at the McDonald’s restaurant where Mangione was arrested while eating breakfast on Dec. 9, 2024, five days after Thompson was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Altoona is about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.
Prosecutors say officers searched the bag legally because Altoona police protocols require promptly searching a suspect’s property at the time of arrest for dangerous items and police later obtained a warrant.
Among the items found at the McDonald’s, according to officer testimony at a recent court hearing, was a loaded gun magazine.
Officers continued searching the bag at a police station and found the gun and silencer. They performed what’s known as an inventory search and found the notebook and other notes, including what appeared to be to-do lists and possible getaway plans, according to testimony.
That search, which involves cataloging every piece of a suspect’s seized property, is also required under Altoona police policy, prosecutors said.
Laws concerning how police obtain search warrants are complex and often disputed in criminal cases.
As part of her inquiry, Garnett ordered federal prosecutors to provide her with a copy of the affidavit submitted to obtain a federal search warrant in the matter.
Mangione’s lawyers contend that searching the backpack before getting a warrant may have influenced how the affidavit was written, but prosecutors say no specific details about items, such as the notebook writings, were mentioned in the document.
Florida
Man convicted for carrying Pelosi’s podium during Jan. 6 riot running for office
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — A man who grabbed then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s podium and posed with it for photographs during the U.S. Capitol riot is running for county office in Florida.
Adam Johnson filed to run as a Republican for an at-large seat on the Manatee County Commission on Tuesday. That was the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot, where he was photographed smiling and waving as he carried Pelosi’s podium after the pro-Trump mob’s attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
Johnson told WWSB-TV that it was “not a coincidence” that he filed for office on Jan. 6, saying “it’s definitely good for getting the buzz out there.” His campaign logo is an outline of the viral photograph of him carrying the podium.
He’s far from the first person implicated in the Jan. 6 riot to run for office. At least three ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2024 as Republicans. And there are signs that the Republican Party is welcoming back more people who were convicted of Jan. 6 offenses after Trump pardoned them.
Jake Lang, who was charged with assaulting an officer, civil disorder and other crimes before he was pardoned, recently announced he is running for Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s vacant U.S. Senate seat in Florida.
Johnson placed the podium in the center of the Capitol Rotunda, posed for pictures and pretended to make a speech, prosecutors said. He pleaded guilty in 2021 of entering and remaining in a restricted building or ground, a misdemeanor that he equated to “jaywalking” in the interview.
“I think I exercised my First Amendment right to speak and protest,” Johnson said.
After driving home, Johnson bragged that he “broke the internet” and was “finally famous,” prosecutors said.
Johnson served 75 days in prison followed by one year of supervised release. The judge also ordered Johnson to pay a $5,000 fine and perform 200 hours of community service.
Johnson told U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton at sentencing that posing with Pelosi’s podium was a “very stupid idea” but now says he only regrets his action because of the prison sentence.
“I walked into a building, I took a picture with a piece of furniture, and I left,” he now says.
Four other Republicans have filed to run so far in the Aug. 18 primary in what’s a deeply Republican county. The incumbent isn’t seeking reelection.
In March 2025, Johnson filed a lawsuit against Manatee County and six of its commissioners, objecting to the county’s decision not to seek attorney’s fees from someone who sued the county and dropped the lawsuit. The county has called Johnson’s claims “completely meritless and unsupported by law.”
Johnson said he objects to high property taxes and overdevelopment in the county south of Tampa, claiming current county leaders are wasteful.
“I will be more heavily scrutinized than any other candidate who is running in this race,” Johnson said. “This is a positive and a good takeaway for every single citizen, because for once in our life, we will know our local politicians who are doing things.”
Judge will hold a limited hearing on seizure of Luigi Mangione’s backpack
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Monday said she will hold a short hearing in the next two weeks on procedures that police said allowed them to seize and look through Luigi Mangione’s backpack when he was arrested in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett said the hearing in the death penalty case will be limited to just one witness: an officer from the police department in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where Mangione was arrested in December 2024.
The officer, she said, must have “sufficient authority and experience to testify about the established or standardized procedures in use” at the time of Mangione’s arrest “for securing, safeguarding, and, if applicable, inventorying the personal property of a person arrested in a public place.”
She ordered prosecutors to confer with Mangione’s lawyers on a suitable hearing date, putting him back in court sooner than a scheduled Jan. 30 conference. Because the hearing will focus on procedures, the officer being called as a witness “need not have had any personal involvement” in Mangione’s arrest, Garnett said.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to federal and state murder charges, which carry the possibility of life in prison.
Mangione’s lawyers want Garnett to bar prosecutors from using certain items found in the backpack, including a gun police said matched the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which Mangione purportedly described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive. Echoing their arguments at a recent state court hearing, they contend the search was illegal because police had not yet obtained a
warrant.
Officers began searching the backpack at the McDonald’s restaurant where Mangione was arrested while eating breakfast on Dec. 9, 2024, five days after Thompson was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Altoona is about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.
Prosecutors say officers searched the bag legally because Altoona police protocols require promptly searching a suspect’s property at the time of arrest for dangerous items and police later obtained a warrant.
Among the items found at the McDonald’s, according to officer testimony at a recent court hearing, was a loaded gun magazine.
Officers continued searching the bag at a police station and found the gun and silencer. They performed what’s known as an inventory search and found the notebook and other notes, including what appeared to be to-do lists and possible getaway plans, according to testimony.
That search, which involves cataloging every piece of a suspect’s seized property, is also required under Altoona police policy, prosecutors said.
Laws concerning how police obtain search warrants are complex and often disputed in criminal cases.
As part of her inquiry, Garnett ordered federal prosecutors to provide her with a copy of the affidavit submitted to obtain a federal search warrant in the matter.
Mangione’s lawyers contend that searching the backpack before getting a warrant may have influenced how the affidavit was written, but prosecutors say no specific details about items, such as the notebook writings, were mentioned in the document.
Florida
Man convicted for carrying Pelosi’s podium during Jan. 6 riot running for office
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — A man who grabbed then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s podium and posed with it for photographs during the U.S. Capitol riot is running for county office in Florida.
Adam Johnson filed to run as a Republican for an at-large seat on the Manatee County Commission on Tuesday. That was the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot, where he was photographed smiling and waving as he carried Pelosi’s podium after the pro-Trump mob’s attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
Johnson told WWSB-TV that it was “not a coincidence” that he filed for office on Jan. 6, saying “it’s definitely good for getting the buzz out there.” His campaign logo is an outline of the viral photograph of him carrying the podium.
He’s far from the first person implicated in the Jan. 6 riot to run for office. At least three ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2024 as Republicans. And there are signs that the Republican Party is welcoming back more people who were convicted of Jan. 6 offenses after Trump pardoned them.
Jake Lang, who was charged with assaulting an officer, civil disorder and other crimes before he was pardoned, recently announced he is running for Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s vacant U.S. Senate seat in Florida.
Johnson placed the podium in the center of the Capitol Rotunda, posed for pictures and pretended to make a speech, prosecutors said. He pleaded guilty in 2021 of entering and remaining in a restricted building or ground, a misdemeanor that he equated to “jaywalking” in the interview.
“I think I exercised my First Amendment right to speak and protest,” Johnson said.
After driving home, Johnson bragged that he “broke the internet” and was “finally famous,” prosecutors said.
Johnson served 75 days in prison followed by one year of supervised release. The judge also ordered Johnson to pay a $5,000 fine and perform 200 hours of community service.
Johnson told U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton at sentencing that posing with Pelosi’s podium was a “very stupid idea” but now says he only regrets his action because of the prison sentence.
“I walked into a building, I took a picture with a piece of furniture, and I left,” he now says.
Four other Republicans have filed to run so far in the Aug. 18 primary in what’s a deeply Republican county. The incumbent isn’t seeking reelection.
In March 2025, Johnson filed a lawsuit against Manatee County and six of its commissioners, objecting to the county’s decision not to seek attorney’s fees from someone who sued the county and dropped the lawsuit. The county has called Johnson’s claims “completely meritless and unsupported by law.”
Johnson said he objects to high property taxes and overdevelopment in the county south of Tampa, claiming current county leaders are wasteful.
“I will be more heavily scrutinized than any other candidate who is running in this race,” Johnson said. “This is a positive and a good takeaway for every single citizen, because for once in our life, we will know our local politicians who are doing things.”
