Judge prods Altoona deputy on search of Luigi Mangione’s backpack

MANHATTAN (CN) — A federal judge on Friday implored an Altoona, Pennsylvania, police officer to imagine arresting her on a bus, a hypothetical she hoped would help her get to the bottom of whether Luigi Mangione’s belongings were lawfully searched during his December 9, 2024, arrest.

“Let’s say I’m arrested on a public bus and I have my purse or backpack on a seat next to me,” U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, a Joe Biden appointee, posed to the cop. “What are they supposed to do with that purse?”

Deputy Chief Nathan Snyder of the Altoona Police Department, testifying in Manhattan as part of an evidentiary hearing in Mangione’s federal murder case, replied that he’d start by asking if the purse belonged to her.

“If you say yes, they’ll take that property with you,” Snyder said.

The scenario drew sharp parallels to Mangione’s own arrest in an Altoona McDonald’s. Bodycam footage showed the murder suspect telling officers that a large backpack — which prosecutors say contained a pistol, silencer and journal confessing to killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson — indeed belonged to him.

Mangione’s defense attorneys claim police officers unlawfully took and searched the backpack, rendering the evidence inside inadmissible.

Snyder was not involved in Mangione’s arrest two Decembers ago — he said Friday that he wasn’t even in Altoona on that date, nor did he have any involvement in the department’s investigation of Mangione. Rather, the deputy chief was invited to Garnett’s courtroom by prosecutors to help them convince the judge that there was nothing illegal about the search of the backpack.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dominic Gentile led Snyder through Altoona Police Department code, which states detainees are searched at the scene of their arrest, then their property is taken back to the station for inventory.

“Does this apply only to property that is found on the detainee’s person, or all property belonging to a detainee?” Gentile asked.

“This would be for all property,” Snyder replied, bucking the defense’s argument that the cops shouldn’t have taken anything other than what Mangione had on his person.

Officers separated Mangione from his backpack prior to arresting him. They testified at a state hearing that this was done to ensure their safety. Once Mangione was cuffed, a cop opened his bag while still inside the McDonald’s, uncovering a pistol magazine wrapped in a pair of underpants. She then stopped searching the backpack and officers took it back to the station.

Snyder testified a detainee’s belongings are taken back to the precinct mostly for their own benefit.

“In my experience, I’ve had people with heirloom necklaces from their grandmother, things like that,” he said. “We want to make sure we get them back to the detainee.”

But Snyder also acknowledged that none of the department’s inventory procedures relate to using those items as evidence in a criminal case.

Judge Garnett, who didn’t immediately rule on suppression but said she found the hearing “very helpful,” repeatedly brought Snyder back to her bus hypothetical. Mangione’s attorney Marc Agnifilo tried using it to his advantage on cross-examination.

“If you found something illegal, cocaine, a firearm magazine, would you do anything other than continue the inventory search?” Agnifilo asked.

“In this specific instance, no. We would stop at that point,” Snyder said. “We would probably stop and get a search warrant.”

Agnifilo and other members of Mangione’s legal team have scrutinized investigators for uncovering the pistol magazine while still at the McDonald’s, without a warrant. It’s an outstanding issue not just in Mangione’s federal murder case, but in his parallel state prosecution as well.

Contrary to the roughly 90-minute federal hearing on Friday, in which Snyder was the sole witness, prosecutors held an evidentiary hearing that spanned several weeks in Mangione’s state case at the end of 2025. There, prosecutors played hours of bodycam footage from Mangione’s arrest and displayed pictures of his recovered belongings amid bids for suppression from the defense.

The judge in that case hasn’t yet ruled.

In federal court, Garnett intends to start picking a jury on Sept. 8. If Mangione’s case remains death penalty-eligible, trial openings won’t start until Jan. 11. But if Garnett tosses capital punishment, she wants them to kick off on Oct. 13.

Mangione, now bearded and shackled at the feet throughout Friday’s hearing, is due back in Garnett’s courtroom next Friday for a status conference.

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