Luigi Mangione Was 'Smuggled' An Illegal Hidden Message
Luigi Mangione, who is accused of gunning down United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December, was given a hidden message tucked into
According to a report from ABC News, Mangione was given special accommodations for his "fashion needs" before his Feb. 21 court appearance as the defendant was permitted to change out of his jail-issued clothing.
Mangione's defense team provided him with bag of clothes to change into before the court appearance, but it seems the clothes included an illegal hidden message.
In a new court filing on Wednesday, New York City prosecutors say that handwritten notes were concealed inside a pair of argyle socks that Mangione was given to wear. The filing says that the socks were wrapped around cardboard. Within that cardboard were two hidden notes,
"Secreted in the cardboard were two personal heart-shaped notes, one addressed to an unknown person named 'Joan' and the other to Luigi stating in part 'know there are thousands of people wishing you luck,'" the Manhattan district attorney’s office said according to ABC News.
"In spite of this, the defendant was permitted to wear the argyle socks, which he first changed into and later changed out of because he felt that 'they did not look good.'"
As the prosecution's filing notes, Mangione did not ultimately wear the socks, opting to go without socks in his loafers, instead.
"Fortunately, the items smuggled were handwritten notes and not contraband capable of harming the transporting officers," prosecutors noted.
Mangione's attorney's claim that they “inadvertently did not see” the two heart-shaped notes in the socks and pointed out that one of the notes was not even addressed to the defendant.
“This was obviously inadvertent as one of the two heart-shaped notes was not even addressed to Mr. Mangione,” his attorneys wrote in a Wednesday letter to the judge in the case according to CNN. “The District Attorney’s Office ostensibly realized the innocent nature of this event, and that it was not a genuine danger or concern, as they did not bother to alert the Court at the time.”
It's not clear who sent the notes or how they ended up in the socks.