Mangione

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A defense attorney for Luigi Mangione says a New York court notice denying Mangione’s transport to Blair County for a November pre-trial court hearing on forgery, firearm and records tampering is insufficient because the denial was issued by a data analyst.

Altoona attorney Thomas M. Dickey, who asked Blair County Judge Jackie Bernard for a court order seeking Mangione’s return to Blair County, is now asking Bernard for a court hearing about Mangione’s unavailability and/or the lack of due diligence to have him transported here.

“(An email) from the data analyst is not an official document authorized by a federal district court judge or a United States attorney or assistant United States attorney necessary for the denial of a writ,” Dickey wrote in a document filed Monday with Blair County court.

Dickey also referenced Bernard’s previous reference to wanting “something more official” to document the transportation denial, an action the defense attorney says is limited to select people authorized by federal law.

Mangione, after being arrested in Altoona on Dec. 9, subsequently waived extradition to New York, where he remains in a federal prison, charged with homicide and related offenses in the shooting death of U.S. health insurance CEO Brian Thompson.

Blair County District Attorney Pete Weeks and First Assistant District Attorney Nichole Smith are already on record about their communications with attorneys in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and how Mangione won’t be physically available to Blair County until his federal charges are addressed.

In explaining their position in a Sept. 17 court document, Weeks and Smith referred to Mangione’s agreement to extradition. In addition, the prosecutors referenced logistics, cost and security concerns associated with transporting Mangione, whose New York charges have drawn significant attention from the news media and the public.

Weeks and Smith also reiterated that New York prosecutors have already indicated that Mangione could be made available — through video conferencing — to participate in any Blair County court proceeding.

In the document Dickey filed Monday, he argued that the DA’s office has yet to secure an appropriate document from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York to prohibit Mangione’s return to Blair County, and therefore, hasn’t met its due diligence to make Mangione available for court proceedings.

The only document offered, Dickey contended, reflects a Sept. 10 email authored by Sheena Wills, data analyst for the U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York, who indicated that the transportation was barred and that no further information was forthcoming.

“The defendant demands and insists that he be present in person for any all critical stage proceedings in Pennsylvania,” Dickey wrote in the document. “(He) will not agree to waive or diminish, in any way, his right to be present, as protected by the Constitution of the United States and of this Commonwealth.”

Bernard has the task of deciding how to address Dickey’s petition.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.