Ex-prosecutor to represent suspect in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO

Assistant District Attorney Karen Agnifilo attends a news conference in Manhattan Supreme Court, in New York, Feb. 14, 2017. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

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.

“We going to continue to press forward on parallel paths, and we’ll be ready whether he is going to waive extradition or whether he is going to contest extradition,” Bragg said at an unrelated press conference in Times Square.

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.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has said she’s prepared to ask her Pennsylvania counterpart, Gov. Josh Shapiro, to intervene and issue a governor’s warrant requiring Mangione’s extradition if he does not agree to be moved voluntarily.

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.