Two of the highest ranking police officials at the scene where Luigi Mangione was arrested spent the bulk of Thursday on the witness stand defending their actions to search his backpack without a warrant.
Mangione's team has pushed to exclude evidence from the backpack search from his upcoming trial for the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Lieutenant William Hanelly, the highest ranking officer on scene, was adamant Thursday his team did not need a warrant to search the bag where they located ammunition and later a handgun and silencer, among other things.
Hanelly said because Mangione was being arrested on Pennsylvania state charges, a conditional rule that allows "search incident to arrest" applied to Mangione's backpack. He was the one in charge of authorizing both putting Mangione in handcuffs.
Body camera video shows during the search of the backpack, multiple officers are heard saying they don't need a warrant, but one officer says they believe one is necessary.
More body camera video showed a second search of the bag at the police precinct. The court heard officers referring to Mangione's red notebook as a manifesto, something the defense has repeatedly objected to.
Officer John Burns told the court he photographed every single page of the book, though neither those writings nor other notes found were displayed to the court.
Lawyers for Mangione also objected Thursday to the state's decision to release more than 2 hours of security footage showing the shooting of Brian Thompson and its aftermath.
The video has not yet been played in court.
EARLIER DEVELOPMENTS | Evidence hearing focuses on whether Luigi Mangione was appropriately read his rights
On Thursday, the court heard that Hanelly was the point of contact that morning to the NYPD, repeatedly trying to get in touch with officials in the nation's largest police department.
Officials testified they believed the NYC shooter would be armed and dangerous, yet felt the scene was secure enough to allow patrons to move around the restaurant and exit through the side door.
The prosecution has gotten through about half of their witnesses before the defense will have its turn.
