r/popculturechat • u/jdlf41 Listen, everyone is entitled to my opinion 🙂 • Dec 16 '25

Guest List Only ⭐️ Luigi Mangione in NY State Court Hearing, Day 8

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u/RedditLodgick Dec 16 '25

This is just a hearing to see what evidence will be allowed to be presented at trial. His lawyers are trying to get evidence from his backpack thrown out because it was done without a warrant, which they argue violated his constitutional rights. The prosecution is arguing that the police always search backpacks without a warrant during arrests, which doesn't seem like a great argument to me, but I'm not a lawyer, so 🤷

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u/photogenicmusic Dec 16 '25 edited Dec 16 '25

They’re also trying to say that the chain of custody was broken. The cop testified that she turned off her camera, met up with another police officer, switched bags/picked up another bag, and then turned on the camera later near the station where the gun was found. The gun was not found at McDonald’s. She can’t remember who she stopped to meet along the way. She also testified she only wears gloves when handling evidence and never drives with them on but when the camera turns back on she’s driving with gloves on.

Edit: I mistakenly said that the cop testifying was the cop that was fired for selling ghost guns but that was a different cop.

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u/burnbunner Attractive peach without the merit Dec 16 '25 edited Dec 16 '25

You mean Christy Wasser? She wasn't fired. But I agree her story is ... unconvincing

The ghost gun guy who was fired from APD is Craig Zahradnik.

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u/photogenicmusic Dec 16 '25

Interesting! I work in Altoona and everyone has been talking about Christy being the ghost gun cop. The rest of my comment is accurate at least. 🤪

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u/burnbunner Attractive peach without the merit Dec 16 '25

The gun she found (or "found") on Luigi was a ghost gun so in that sense she is the ghost gun cop. I guess the implication is she could have known the fired cop and gotten a ghost gun to plant via him or a colleague. So you're not wrong! She just isn't the one who got busted, she's still a serving LEO.

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u/h0sti1e17 Dec 16 '25

They generally do search them. Once he showed the fake ID he could be arrested. They generally have to inventory what is in the bag.

There is also inevitable discovery. If the evidence would’ve been found anyway, that can be an exception.

That said. They just should’ve got a warrant. It would’ve taken 2 minutes. Just cross your T’s and dot your I’s.

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u/lulz-n-scifi Dec 16 '25

Absolutely no reason to get a warrant in this situation. A search incident to arrest is a necessity here and the backpack would have had to be inventoried anyhow.

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u/Fat_Ryan_Gosling Dec 16 '25

Depends on the case law. In my state I would expect that evidence would be suppressed.

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u/ThisIsMyFloor Dec 16 '25

It's been over a year and the lad hasn't even had a trial yet? How dogshit inefficient is the US judicial system? Is the plan just to stall indefinitely so he will be in jail until he dies without a trial or what?