“Even if this motion is successful, it doesn’t mean that Luigi Mangione walks out of prison,” said Ron Kuby, a criminal defense attorney whose practice focuses on civil rights. “All it means is that the items that were seized from him, or seized that belong to him, can’t be used as evidence against him.”
Kuby thinks that Mangione’s team has made enough claims in their papers to merit a hearing on the issues, in which the police officer involved would have to testify, confirming or denying the facts. “It does appear that they stopped and frisked Mangione without a legal basis to do it. If that’s true, everything that follows from there is likely to be found to be unconstitutional,” he said.
I’m not sure if he is a patsy or not, but I am relatively certain the police cut corners on due process when collecting evidence and when building their case.
Those are the kinds of behaviors that police do that only get caught when the defense has sufficient resources to really challenge everything.
This seems a lot like the OJ Simpson case. Luigi isn’t a celebrity but is a very charismatic whose celebrity has grown nearly overnight.
There is the possibility that growing celebrity and a properly resourced defense can get crucial evidence removed making it possible for an acquittal.