Karen Agnifilo (finally) Gets It
Why we now know that Luigi Mangione is in good legal hands
I’ll admit that when I heard Karen Agnifilo, lead counsel on Luigi Mangione’s legal team, speak on behalf of her client for the first time, I was underwhelmed. For someone with her impeccable credentials and experience in what I think is the toughest federal court district in the country, she seemed nervous and subdued.
I realize now, she just needed time.
Yesterday’s hearing in New York was connected to the state case against Mangione, and was largely administrative. Prosecutors reviewed the evidence they said they’d turned over to the defense—body cam footage, surveillance videos, data from the cell phone found at the scene, forensic DNA testing material, police reports, and other documents. Prosecutors admitted that they had not yet turned over everything to Mangione’s lawyers.
Before I get into what Agnifilo said and did in the hearing and outside the courtroom in front of cameras, let me paint a scene. (I won’t be bothering with the circus in the hallway.)
A pale, thin young man shuffles into the courtroom under heavy guard, his ankles and hands shackled. He is wearing a bulletproof vest. The image suggests that he is a both a criminal so dangerous he must be restrained and a social pariah so hated that he must be protected.
Of course, he is neither of those things (I often say Mangione is the safest man in the country), but Karen Agnifilo has no control over how the state chooses to transport her client. And, just as with the historically idiotic perp walk with a phalanx of supertroopers and Mayor Quimby, the state is attempting to control the Mangione narrative through optics. Everyone knew cameras would be in the courtroom. Everyone knew this hearing would be on the news, would rip through social media immediately.
I’ve said this before, but the state’s transparent desperation to try to get control of the public’s response to Luigi Mangione suggests a lack of full confidence in its ability to get a conviction. (The billboard truck cruising in front of the courthouse displaying jury nullification information might be one clue about why they’re concerned.)
Back to Agnifilo.
When I was a young book editor in New York, I traveled to a literary conference where writers would pitch book ideas to editors (“It’s Jane Eyre Meets Fight Club!”). I was totally charmed by an older gentleman from Texas who was a wine writer. During the cocktail hour, I confessed to him that I knew nothing about wine.
“I’ll give you a line that you can use for the rest of your life, which will make anyone, regardless of their wine knowledge, think you are an expert.” I was on tenterhooks.
“Simply swirl it around in your glass, and say, “Shows promise, needs time.”
That’s the phrase that came to mind today when I listened to Karen Agnifilo’s statement to the press outside the courtroom today.
During the arraignment more than a month ago, she showed promise, but needed time. Time to get a handle on this incredibly complex and difficult case. Time to deal with the crush of media and the even bigger crush of Mangione’s lovestruck “supporters.” Time to go through the discovery materials. Time to get to know her client. Time to talk to the feds to see where they are on the death penalty. Time to get Mangione’s learned counsel up to speed. Time to make decisions about the fundraiser.
And, related, she needed time to get a read on the public. She did her homework. She corresponded personally with TikTok creators. She followed the X accounts of the Substack and X guys with whom Mangione had corresponded. She made it clear that Mangione was receiving the mail being sent and that he was grateful for it (this set off a maelstrom of limerence and subreddit dramas). She refreshed her firm’s webpage and has linked to a webpage dedicated to Mangione—a page that seems to invite the reader to participate in the Mangione saga. To care. To donate to his legal fund (now at more than a half-million dollars and counting).
She understood. The public supported Mangione, whether they believed he was guilty of the murder of Brian Thompson or not. Those following the case feel that the full-court press from the state and the feds is overkill. That the uncertainty of the punishment being sought by the feds (death penalty is on the table) is unconscionable.
This is a powerful set of tools.
And Karen Agnifilo started to use them. Judge Carro denied the use of video in the courtroom today, so Agnifilo and her team addressed the press outside the courthouse directly following the hearing so the public could hear firsthand what she’d said in court, not solely through the filter of the media (Oy, New York Post.)
Boy, did she have a story to tell. Some highlights that she shared include:
Mangione’s constitutional rights were “violated” in Pennsylvania and that serious questions have been raised about potentially illegal search and seizure of Mangione’s person, possibly resulting in a “suppression of evidence” in both the federal and state trials.
The DOJ has “refused” to allow Mangione to be placed in state custody, even though New York and the feds had agreed that the state trial would move forward first. With the feds still dithering about whether they’ll be seeking the death penalty or not (which is an intimidation tactic), this requires Agnifilo to spin two plates at the same time, and if one of them drops, it’s a potential death sentence. Seriously.
He’s being treated in a different manner than other prisoners. Because he’s facing both a federal and a state case, and is being held in federal custody, they can force him to wear shackles and a bulletproof vest. If he were just facing state murder one charges, this wouldn’t be the case.
It’s objectionable that Mangione is being tried in three different jurisdictions for the same “event.”
The Department of Justice is refusing to transport Mangione to Pennsylvania to deal with his charges there. This is an issue because the evidence seized in Pennsylvania is being used by New York in this trial, but Agnifilo has indicated that she will challenge the admissibility of that evidence due to concerns about how it was obtained (she didn’t provide details regarding her legal argument for that)
The state of New York has missed discovery deadlines and has many police reports that have not been turned over to the defense. This is fascinating because members of the NYPD along with Mayor Eric Adams appear in an HBO documentary about Mangione, “talking about police paperwork that we don't have, talking about forensics that we have not yet received.”
This leads into what Agnifilo called the most “important” issue, Mangione is being treated as guilty in the public square and this is infringing on his ability to get a fair trial. She focused on the HBO documentary, in which an actor reads directly from the journal seized by Altoona police and the Chief of Detective discusses other evidence from the Pennsylvania arrest. This is wildly prejudicial, especially if Mangione’s legal team manages to get the evidence the NYPD and the mayor have been parading around on TV suppressed.
There’s more, but I don’t want this post to get longer than it needs to be. I just want to point out one more thing, which demonstrates that Karen Agnifilo fully understands what she has to work with here.
She knew there were supporters gathered outside, that there were supporters in the hallway hoping to get into the courtroom. I’m certain she knew about the truck driving around with the billboard featuring information on jury nullification. I have no doubt she’s aware of the many subreddits about Mangione and the high emotions, protectiveness, and parasocial activities found there.
Look at her language in the press conference and the scenes she paints for his supporters.
“When I go to visit Luigi in MDC Brooklyn, I sit with him. He is unshackled; he walks around freely in the visiting area and we sit in a room together without law enforcement hovering over us.”
This is very clever. She is ostensibly gearing up to make an argument about the disproportionate show of security in the courtroom. But what she’s also doing is inviting Mangione’s most fervent, obsessive fans to imagine they’re the ones sitting with him. That they’re the ones sitting in a room together without law enforcement hanging over them. She continues in this vein:
“But for whatever reason here, despite all the law enforcement, they need him to be wearing this vest. They need him to be shackled. And they stand right over us and we get no time to be with him.”
Now she’s evoking the protectiveness I spoke of earlier. How dare they shackle my Luigi! How dare they not let us spend time together!
When she speaks about the challenges of dealing with both the federal case and the state case at the same time, she does something interesting. She says, “the federal government is still considering whether to execute Luigi.”
The word execute is powerful and powerfully evocative. It brings to mind a scene of state murder. And for Mangione’s supporters, this is an inflammatory statement, reminding everyone of what is at stake.
Finally, she does a fine job of emphasizing the unjustness of how the NYPD and Mayor Eric Adams are comporting themselves, provoking fury in supporters when she said,
“How shocking it was that this week, on HBO, in a documentary, I see the Chief of Detectives and NYC mayor, full hair and make up done, sitting down, giving an interview for TV talking about the evidence in Luigi's case, talking about police paperwork that we don't have, talking about forensics that we have not yet received…hearing an actor playing Luigi reading from a journal that they say is Luigi's, yet we have yet to receive it from the prosecution. And so it is outrageous that they have time to go and prejudice Mr. Mangione's ability to receive a fair trial…”
William Jennings Bryan himself couldn’t get folks riled up more efficiently.
And it worked. On social media, Mangione’s fans seethed. Three examples picked at random:
I’m so angry for LM, dude. This really is completely shocking and wrong. I didn’t know it would be this bad. This isn’t justice. You can’t brigade someone with charges, try them in the media and subsequently delay the discovery by two months. I’m absolutely disgusted.
and
I can’t even look at the photos of him because I’m so angry.
and
I feel exactly the same. This is an absolutely disgusting abuse of power.
Finally, I’m not a lawyer, of course, so this is all just speculation, but it seemed to me that Agnifilo was exercising a little soft power in the hearing today by bringing up the missing discovery documents that miraculously ended up being discussed in the documentary; in mentioning the possibility of suppressed evidence due to a potentially illegal search and seizure; and in highlighting the prejudicial actions that have already taken place and continue to take place (the perp walk, the documentary).
One could argue that this is being teed up for potential motions or even material for appeal, should that be necessary. There’s no doubt the prosecutors heard her loud and clear, both in the courtroom and on the courthouse steps.
Similarly, there’s no doubt that the both the state and the feds see the vociferous support Mangione has, and how the artful way Agnifilo shared the details of Mangione’s confinement and the truly idiotic behavior of the NYPD and Mayor Eric Adams only intensified that support.
Combined, I could see why a prosecutor might be feeling a little uncomfortable tonight.
Great article. Horrendous what they are doing to LM and the defence team. The judge seemed like a total dick and I’ve seen some say on SM he is usually pro-prosecution. He seemed extremely biased. Any idea what supporters can do to help ensure he receives a fair trial?
Great read!