Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Judge Orders Narrow Hearing on Police Procedures in Mangione Backpack Search

The court will question an Altoona police official about standardized property-inventory practices to determine the fate of evidence from the arrest.

Overview

  • The evidentiary session will occur within roughly two weeks and is limited to one Altoona Police Department witness with authority to describe department protocols.
  • Prosecutors must provide the judge with the affidavit used to obtain the federal search warrant and related materials before the hearing.
  • Defense lawyers seek to suppress items from the backpack, arguing officers searched before obtaining a warrant, while prosecutors cite department policy and a later warrant.
  • Officer testimony has described finding a loaded magazine at the McDonald’s arrest scene, then a gun and silencer at the station, followed by an inventory search that produced a notebook and other notes.
  • Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty in federal and state cases, and the judge is also weighing a bid to dismiss two federal counts, including a death-penalty-eligible charge.