(Bloomberg) -- Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the fatal Midtown Manhattan shooting of a top UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive, will appear at a court hearing Thursday in Pennsylvania that could determine how quickly he will return to New York to face murder charges.
In one hearing, the 26-year old is scheduled to tell a Pennsylvania judge whether he will continue to fight being sent to New York. Another hearing scheduled earlier on the same day concerns Pennsylvania weapons and ID charges stemming from his arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona.
The back-to-back hearings for Mangione by a pair of judges in Blair County, Pennsylvania, will determine the next steps as the suspected shooter faces separate charges in the two states. Plans to bring Mangione to New York hit a roadblock last week when he said that he would contest the extradition process.
Mangione faces murder charges in New York for the fatal shooting of Brian Thompson, who was killed on the sidewalk outside the company’s investor meeting. Mangione is being held without bail after a national manhunt ended with his Dec. 9 arrest.
After the proceedings on the local charges, he will then have a hearing on whether he will still contest his return to New York. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has 30 days to ask for Mangione’s extradition, and legal experts say he has little chance of winning the fight.
Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks said Monday that he wasn’t certain what Mangione will decide.
“We will have to see when he gets to court,” Weeks said in an interview with Bloomberg News in the county courthouse.
In a statement after the court dates were set, Weeks’ office said that it couldn’t comment on “what may occur at these appearances or whether evidence may be presented during the hearings as those are decisions that rest exclusively with Mr. Mangione.”
Last week, Mangione hired former veteran Manhattan prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo to defend him on the murder charges.
Mangione’s attorney in Altoona, Thomas Dickey, didn’t respond Tuesday to a request for comment. At a hearing last week, Dickey said Mangione will fight any attempt to send him to New York. Before entering the courthouse for the Dec. 10 hearing, the University of Pennsylvania graduate shouted at reporters.
“It’s clearly unjust and an insult to the intelligence of the American people,” Mangione yelled.
Mangione is being held without bail in Blair County. He is also scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 30 in Pennsylvania. But if he ends up waiving extradition, the Pennsylvania charges would take a back seat as Mangione would quickly be handed over to New York authorities.
(Updates with order on extradition hearing)
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