The defense team for Luigi Mangione, who allegedly assassinated the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, got a minor victory on Monday when the judge ruled that some evidence would be inadmissible due to an improper search at the time of his arrest.

Justice Gregory Carro of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan ruled on Monday that some of the items retrieved from Mangione’s backpack at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania during his arrest would be excluded, saying they were acquired in “an improper, warrantless search.” The excluded items include: a gun magazine, a cellphone, a passport, a wallet, and a computer chip.

The prosecution, however, secured a victory of their own when the judge ruled that “a gun and notebook found inside Luigi Mangione’s backpack could be used as evidence during his murder trial in September,” per the New York Times:

Inside of the notebook was what prosecutors have called a manifesto decrying America’s “parasitic” insurance industry and its system of for-profit health care. And the gun, prosecutors have said, was connected to shell casings found at the scene of the killing.

Justice Carro said that only some of the statements made by Mr. Mangione on the day of his arrest, Dec. 9, 2024, would be allowed.

The decision came after prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office spent three weeks in December arguing that evidence found in Mr. Mangione’s backpack — ammunition, a homemade silencer, a red notebook, handwritten notes and a 3-D-printed gun — should all be allowed into a trial.

Mangione’s supporters, some of whom were seated inside the courtroom, expressed glee upon hearing that some evidence would be excluded from the trial. His lawyers had previously argued that police officers did not have a warrant to search Mangione’s backpack upon his arrest.

Luigi Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a little over a week of police searching for the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Luigi Mangione has become a rock star for leftists ever since he allegedly assassinated Brian Thompson in cold blood on the streets of New York in 2024. In April of last year, former Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz even referred to him as a “morally good man” precisely because of his alleged crimes.

“Here’s this man who’s a revolutionary, who’s famous, who’s handsome, who’s young, who’s smart, he’s a person who seems like he’s this morally good man, which is hard to find,” Lorenz told CNN.

Lorenz also accused the establishment media of “clutching their pearls” and pushing an out-of-touch “narrative.”

“It’s hilarious to see these millionaire media pundits on TV clutching their pearls about someone stanning a murderer when this is the United States of America, as if we don’t lionize criminals,” Lorenz said.

“As if we don’t stan murderers of all sorts. And we give them Netflix shows. There’s a huge disconnect between the narratives and angles a certain mainstream media pushes and what the American public feels, and you see that in moments like this.”

Last month, Hasan Piker sparked backlash when he argued that Mangione allegedly killed Thompson because the CEO committed “social murder.” Piker, a Twitch streamer, said Americans “understand” why Luigi Mangione allegedly killed Thompson due to the his alleged role in “social murder.”

“Friedrich Engels wrote about the concept of social murder. And Brian Thompson, as the UnitedHealthcare CEO, was engaging in a tremendous amount of social murder,” Piker claimed in an interview with the New York Times podcast The Opinions.

“And that was a fascinating story for me, because Americans are very Draconian about crime and punishment. They’re very black and white on this issue. And yet, because of the pervasive pain that the private health care system had created for the average American, I saw so many people immediately understand why this death had taken place,” he added.

Piker even said the pain of healthcare costs has become so “universalized” that “virtually every American had a similar experience,” highlighting the many Americans who spent their last days arguing with healthcare providers.

“That’s a harrowing process for a lot of people. And for them, that is murder; for them, that is torture. And that is the reason why, I think, the reaction to Luigi Mangione, especially by younger generations, was not so negative,” Piker said.