Luigi Mangione's trial begins in New York. He is accused of murdering the head of an insurance company that rocked the United States.

Preliminary hearings have begun in a New York court in the case of the December 2024 murder of UnitedHealthcare insurance company head Brian Thompson. 27-year-old Luigi Mangione has been charged and could face the death penalty, writes the BBC.

Even before his arrest, the death of the high-ranking insurer sparked a wave of schadenfreude in the United States, demonstrating the dissatisfaction of many Americans with the inaccessibility of medicine.

The preliminary court hearings, which began in New York, are to determine whether the court can consider the materials of Mangione's interrogation, which was conducted immediately after his detention in early December 2024 at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and also to attach to the case as material evidence the things found with him at the time - a notebook, a gun, etc.

Mangione's defense insists that the interrogation itself was conducted in violation of procedure, in particular, he was not informed of his rights, including the right not to testify against himself (the so-called "Miranda rule").

It was then, the lawyers believe, that the investigation obtained the most important materials for the case, including shedding light on the possible motive for the crime, Reuters notes: an explanatory note was allegedly found in Mangione's notebook.

At the hearing, one of the police officers testified that shortly after the arrest, Mangione himself, without prompting, told him that he had a 3D-printed gun in his backpack. Lawyers question whether Mangione could have reported such compromising information about himself, believing that he was questioned without being informed of his rights, Reuters reports.

Mangione is charged with intentional murder at both the state and federal levels. In New York State, where Thompson was killed, the death penalty is prohibited; the state charge carries a life sentence for Mangione. However, at the federal level, the perpetrator can be sentenced to death for such a crime, and the prosecution has already stated that it plans to request the highest measure of punishment.

In addition to murder, Mangione is also charged with illegal manufacturing of weapons, forgery and a number of other crimes. However, the charge of terrorism previously brought against him has been dropped.

The date for the substantive hearing has not yet been set; the trial is expected to begin in 2026.

Mangione pleads not guilty to all charges.

Mangione, who comes from a wealthy family and is a graduate of a prestigious Ivy League university (an association of eight well-known universities in the northeastern United States, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Princeton), was detained after several days of active searches. He was identified by McDonald's customers from a frame from surveillance cameras distributed by the police.

Thompson, the head of the largest medical insurance company in the United States, UnitedHealthcare, was shot dead on December 4, 2024 in downtown New York.

Police, according to media reports citing law enforcement officials, found shell casings on which the words Deny, Defend, Depose were allegedly written with a marker. They play on the phrase, which, according to those who have suffered from insurers' refusal to pay for treatment, describes their strategy: Delay, Deny, Defend.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi called Thompson's murder a "cold-blooded, well-prepared crime that shocked America."

Even before Mangione's detention, comments in support of him began to appear on social networks and in public groups, left by Americans dissatisfied with the high cost of medical services in the United States and the inaccessibility of medical insurance for many social groups.

UnitedHealth Group, which included the company headed by Thompson, was forced to restrict the ability to write comments under posts about his death in its official social media accounts after users left thousands of emoticons and even applauding emojis under them.

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