Citing “the seriousness of the charges” Luigi Mangione is facing in his Manhattan death penalty case, a federal judge on Monday reconsidered a hearing about the legality of a property search during the suspected CEO killer’s December 2024 arrest, ordering the Justice Department to secure testi mony from a Pennsylvania police officer about the protocols that were followed. In a brief order posted to the case docket, Manhattan Federal Judge Margaret Garnett said she wanted to hear from the Altoona, Pa., police department about what procedures were carried out when Manigone was handcuffed five days after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s murder, eating breakfast at a McDonald’s more than 200 miles from the scene. The order constituted a reversal for Garnett, who at a Friday hearing was unreceptive to hashing out the matter at an evidentiary hearing in Mangione’s federal case, saying she didn’t feel it necessary. A pistol that authorities say was used to shoot Thompson dead on a Midtown sidewalk on Dec. 4, 2024, personal writings expressing venom toward the health insurance industry and other evidence were recovered on Mangione’s person by Pennsylvania cops during and immediately after the high-profile bust. The Maryland man’s attorneys have argued that the cops — who arrested him for carrying a fake ID, while believing he was the suspect wanted for Thompson’s killing — violated his constitutional rights by unlawfully inventorying the contents of his backpack. In this courtroom sketch, Luigi Mangione, center, flanked by his attorneys Karen Agnifilo, left and Marc Agnifilo, right, during his court appearance in Manhattan federal court, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP) During the arguments before Garnett on Friday, Mangione’s attorney Jacob Kaplan argued, “They would be allowed to safeguard it. They can take it,” but the cops were out of order searching through his bag without a warrant for evidence related to an out-of-state crime he wasn’t being detained for. The issue was the subject of marathon hearings in Mangione’s parallel state case in December, which is being tried by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. The judge presiding in that case heard ample testimony from the officers involved and watched body-cam footage of the arrest that capped a nationwide five-day manhunt, indicating he would rule in May. Luigi Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson (inset), CEO of UnitedHealthcare. (Obtained by Daily News; AP) Mangione, 27, has been detained at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn without bail since his arrest more than a year ago. He is separately trying to get two counts tossed from the federal indictment, including the capital offense of murder through the use of a firearm. His attorneys have accused the Trump Justice Department of villainizing him in public statements and prejudicing his right to a fair trial. He has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges and to second-degree murder and other offenses in Bragg’s case, which carries a possible life sentence. The federal hearing is not expected to get as granular as the weekslong pretrial hearing in Mangione’s state case. Garnett said she expected it would be brief and needn’t require an officer involved in the arrest, only someone with “sufficient authority and experience to testify about the established or standardized procedures in use.” She ordered the Justice Department to confer with Mangione’s lawyers and a representative for the Altoona Police Department about timing. The judge also ordered the government to provide her with a copy of the affidavit that was filed to support a federal search warrant secured hours after Mangione’s arrest and the search of his items and any related paperwork. ...read more read less