"CEO KILLER FIGHTS TO TOSS GUN, JORDAN TANKS JURY SELECTION & HUSBAND'S 'SHE JUST DIED' DEFENSE"

0:03 Callarogu Shark Media. Good morning, I'm reed Carter. Wednesday, December third, twenty twenty five. Three major trials consuming all the oxygen in the courtroom this week. Let me tell you where we are. Manhattan. Luigi Mangioni is fighting to suppress the most damaging evidence against him. The gun prosecutors say killed United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the journal where he allegedly wrote about wanting to whack a health insurance executive. His lawyers claimed cops searched his backpack without a warrant at that McDonald's in Pennsylvania. If they win, prosecutors lose their murder weapon and their motive.

0:47 Hearings expected to last more than a week. Charlotte, North Carolina, Michael Jordan showed up for his antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR and immediately wrecked jury selection. One potential juror said he could couldn't be fair because I like Mike. Another said he grew up with Jordan posters on his walls. Meanwhile, Jordan's co owner Denny Hamlin broke down sobbing on the witness stand, describing his dying father's sacrifices. The three time Daytona five hundred winner says NASCAR is a monopolistic bully that leaves teams no choice but to lose money or quit. And Dedham, Massachusetts. Brian Walsh's murder trial for the death of his wife Anna entered day three his defense. She just died suddenly in bed on New Year's Day twenty twenty three. He panicked, That's why he googled best way to dispose of a body and how to dismember. That's why surveillance video shows him buying a hacksaw hatchet and cleaning supplies. That's why her DNA ended up on those tools found in a dumpster. Make it make sense. I'm Reid Carter today. Three trials, a CEO killer's constitutional gamble, a basketball legend disrupting justice, and the most absurd defense I've heard in months. This is celebrity trials. Let's start in Manhattan Criminal Court. The people of New York versus Luigi Mangione. December fourth, twenty twenty four, One year ago tomorrow, Brian Thompson, fifty years old, CEO of United Healthcare, walking

2:20 to the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan Annual Investor Conference scheduled for later that morning. A masked gunman approached from behind. Three shots. Thompson fell. The shooter fled on a bicycle. Five days later, December ninth, twenty twenty four, Altoona, Pennsylvania, McDonald's restaurant, Luigi Mangone, twenty seven years old, eating breakfast wearing a Beanie medical face mask covering his face. A customer thought he looked like the suspect in the CEO killing, told the manager. The manager searched online, compared the photos, called nine one one. It looks like the suspect. I can only see his eyebrows, but it looks like him.

3:04 Two officers approached Mangioni at his table, asked for identification. He allegedly said his name was Mark Rosario, same name prosecutors say he used to check into a Manhattan hostel days before the shooting. Officers searched his backpack, found a nine millimeter handgun, ammunition, fake identification, and a notebook. In that notebook, according to prosecutors, Mangioni wrote about his intent to whack a health insurance executive, described the deadly greed fueled health insurance cartel, wrote that killing an industry executive conveys a greedy bastard that had it coming. Mangione was arrested, charged with first degree murder in New York. Federal murder charges followed, prosecutors seeking the death penalty. But here's the problem.

3:55 Did police have the right to search that backpack? This week, Mangoni's defense team is fighting to suppress the most damaging evidence, the gun, the notebook, some of his statements to police, all of it. Monday, the hearings began. Mangioni sat in the courtroom, wearing a gray suit instead of jail clothes, watched stoically as prosecutors played surveillance footage of the Thompson shooting, then footage from that McDonald's, previously unseen by the public, showing officers approaching him at breakfast. He pressed a finger to his lips, made a fist around a pen in his right hand. Listen to the nine to one one call from the McDonald's manager describing him sitting there in his mask and beanie. Defense attorney Mark Agnifilo argues the backpack search was unconstitutional, no warrant, no probable cause. Officers didn't have the right to open that bag and dig through it. An officer searching the backpack was captured on body camera saying she was checking to make sure there wasn't a bomb in the bag. Mangione's lawyers call that an excuse designed to cover up an illegal warrantless search.

5:03 Here's the Fourth Amendment question. When can police search your belongings without a warrant? Generally they can't. There are exceptions if you consent, if they have probable cause to believe there's evidence of a crime, if there's an immediate safety concern, like a bomb. Prosecutors argue that's exactly what happened. Officers had reasonable suspicion Mangione was the Manhattan shooter. Checking the bag for weapons was justified for officers safety. Everything they found was in plain view once they opened it. Defense says that's a post talk justification. Officers didn't actually believe there was a bomb they were fishing, and they didn't tell Mangione he had the right to remain silent before asking questions, like when he allegedly gave the fake name Mark Rosario. If the judge agrees with the defense, what happens the gun gets excluded. The murder weapon gone. Prosecutors can't show it to the jury, can't prove it match the shell casings found at the Thompson shooting scene.

6:04 The notebook gets excluded. All those damning statements about whacking an executive, about the insurance cartel, about his planning and motivation gone. Jurors never see it. That's the ballgame. Without the gun, prosecutors have a circumstantial case surveillance footage of a masked man DNA on a water bottle, but no weapon. Without the notebook, they have no motive evidence beyond speculation. Mangione already got the terrorism charges thrown out in September. His lawyers are methodically attacking the prosecution's case piece by piece. This suppression hearing is the most important battle yet. Court officials say the hearings could last more than a week. More than two dozen witnesses expected. Defense attorney Agnafilo told a judge last week that Manhattan prosecutors have a lot of explaining to do about that McDonald's search. A few dozen Mangoni supporters watched from the back of the courtroom Monday. One wore a green T shirt that said, without a warrant, it's not a search, it's a violation. Another woman held a Luigi video game character doll. The support for Mangioni remains bizarre. People treating an alleged assassin like a folk hero, romanticizing murder because they don't like health insurance companies. Brian Thompson was fifty years old, married father of two from Minnesota, shot in the back walking to work. No trial, no jury, no defense, just execution on a Manhattan sidewalk. Mangioni has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges. His state

7:36 trial could result in life in prison. His federal trial could result in death. Neither trial has been scheduled yet. First the judge has to decide what evidence the jury gets to see. Tomorrow marks one year since Brian Thompson was killed. The hearings will continue right through the anniversary. Justice moves slowly. But it moves. We'll be right back with Michael Jordan causing chaos in his NASCAR antitrust trial. Jurors couldn't stop talking about their bulls, posters, and Denny Hamlin's tearful testimony about his dying father. Welcome back to celebrity trials.

8:22 I'm reed. Carter Charlotte, North Carolina, Federal Court twenty three eleven Racing and Front Row Motorsports versus NASCAR antitrust trial that could demolish stock car racing as we know it. Monday, the trial opened and immediately descended into chaos because Michael Jordan showed up, the sixth time NBA champion, the Basketball Hall of Famer, the man whose sneakers still sell for hundreds of dollars. He walked into that federal court room and sat in the gallery near his co owner Denny Hamlin, and jury selection went sideways. One potential juror was dismissed because he said he couldn't be impartial. His reason, I like Mike. Another juror admitted he grew up with Michael Jordan posters on his walls gone. A third said he was a North Carolina fan, Jordan's alma mater, but noted the Tar Heels football team isn't doing too well right now.

9:18 Jordan shook his head and laughed, even in a court room, even as a spectator, even sitting silently in the gallery. Michael Jordan is a distraction. His presence alone is enough to buy us a jury. But the substance of this trial matters twenty three eleven Racing co owned by Jordan and Hamlin and front Row Motorsports are suing NASCAR for antitrust violations. They claim NASCAR is a monopolistic bully that forces teams to accept unfair revenue sharing or get out of the sport. Denny Hamlin was the first witness, three time daytona five hundred winner, seventeen year NASCAR veteran, and he broke down crying on the stand when attorneys asked how he got into racing. Hamlin started weeping, had to stop and compose himself. He disclosed last month that his father is dying. Said on the stand he was emotional because his dad is not in great health. We got to when I was about twenty and a decision had to be made. I could keep racing or go out and work for my dad's trailer business. Hamlin's family sacrificed everything for his racing career. Now he owns a team, and he says NASCAR's system makes it nearly impossible to survive.

10:32 Here's the economics. It costs twenty million dollars just to bring a single car to the track for a thirty eight race season. That's before overhead, before driver's salary, before business operations, just getting on the track. The current charter system guarantees team's twelve point five million dollars in annual revenue per chartered car. Sounds like a lot, But if it cost twenty million just to race, teams are losing money before they pay anyone. Plaintiffs attorney Jeffrey Kessler told the court that a NASCAR Commission's study found seventy five percent of teams lost money in twenty twenty four. Over a three year period, almost four hundred million dollars was paid to the France family trust. That's the family that owns NASCAR. A twenty twenty three Goldman Sachs evaluation found NASCAR worth five billion dollars. What the evidence is going to show is mister France ran this for the benefit of his family at the expense of the teams in sport, Kessler argued. Hamlin testified that eleven of the first nineteen chartered teams are no longer in business. All three charters twenty three eleven purchased came from teams that ceased operations.

11:42 He paid four point seven million dollars for the first charter thirteen point five million dollars for the second and twenty eight million dollars for the third, acquired late last year, even knowing this litigation was pending. The price concerned him. But building a competitive team requires multiple charters, and there's nowhere else to race at this level. So why would these people do this if you are just going to lose money because NASCAR isn't giving you a fair deal, Kessler asked rhetorically, because you love stock car racing and there's nowhere else to do it. That's the antitrust argument. NASCAR has a monopoly on top level American stock car racing.

12:24 Teams have no alternative except NASCAR's terms, or don't race. The France family extracts billions while teams go bankrupt. NASCAR's defense, they built this sport from nothing. The France family built NASCAR from nothing. They are an American success story. Defense attorney Johnny Stevenson said in opening statements, They've done it through hard work over seventy five years. That's the kind of effort that doesn't deserve a lawsuit. That's the kind of effort that deserves admiration. NASCAR argues the charter system created one point five billion dollars in equity for the thirty six chartered teams. Before charters, teams raced open with no guarantee they'd make the field or earn payouts. The current system provides stability. The guaranteed twelve point five million dollars per car is an increase from nine million under the previous agreement. NASCAR says teams are better off now than before, but twenty three to eleven in front Row refused to sign the new charter agreements that triggered this lawsuit.

13:25 Their charters are being held by NASCAR. They're racing this season under protest. If they lose, their charters could be sold to other buyers, including private equity firms interested in the sport. The stakes are enormous. A NASCAR victory could put twenty three to eleven in front Row out of business, their six combined cars gone. Jordan's racing venture. Over a victory for the teams, the judge has power to unravel a monopoly. Nothing is off the table, ordering a sale of NASCAR, dismantling the charter system, restructuring how revenue gets distributed. The care has been churning through hearings for more than a year. Other NASCAR teams begged both sides to settle.

14:05 A federal judge helped mediate a two day summit in October. It failed. Now twelve jurors will decide the future of American stock car racing, assuming they can stop thinking about Michael Jordan Dedham, Massachusetts, Norfolk Superior Court, Commonwealth versus Brian Walshee murder trial for the death of his wife Anna. January first, twenty twenty three, New Year's Day. Anna Walshey, thirty nine years old, a real estate executive, was last seen at her Massachusetts home following a New Year's Eve dinner with her husband and a friend. Her body has never been found, but prosecutors say Brian Walshey, fifty years old, murdered her that day, spent the next several days trying to cover it up, only reported her missing on January fourth, after her employer called because she hadn't shown up for work This week.

15:07 The trial finally began, and Brian Walshey's defense strategy is something else. His lawyer, Larry Tipton, told the jury Anna just died suddenly in bed. Brian found her un panicked when he entered the bedroom and began to get into bed. He sensed something was wrong. He nudged Anna, his wife. She didn't respond. He nudged her again, a little harder. She didn't respond. He nudged her now in a panicked and frantic reaction, to where she actually rolled off the bed. Sudden, unexplained death. That's the defense. Anna was alive one minute, dead the next. No murder, just tragedy. There's just one problem with that theory. Actually, there are dozens of problems.

15:54 Let's start with Brian's Internet search history. Prosecutors say that starting on the day Anna disappeared, Brian made multiple searches on his devices dismemberment and best ways to dispose of a body. How long before a body starts to smell hacksaw? Best tool to dismember, best way to dispose of a body? How long for someone missing to inherit? How long missing to be dead? Can you throw away body parts? Is it possible to clean DNA off a knife? Best way to dispose of body parts after murder? Searches about cleaning blood with ammonia bleach and hydrogen peroxide. Google search history is forever. Apparently, criminals still haven't learned that if Anna just died suddenly in bed, a tragic natural death. Why was Brian immediately searching for how to dismember a body?

16:41 Why was he researching how long it takes for someone missing to be declared dead for inheritance purposes? But wait, it gets worse. Surveillance video shows a man matching Brian's description purchasing four hundred fifty dollars in cleaning supplies and tarps on January second, buying bandages, candles, uggs, a mop, a bucket, and a hatchet. A hatchet for cleaning up after your wife's sudden natural death. More surveillance video shows a man resembling Brian throwing what appeared to be heavy trash bags into a dumpster not far from their home. Investigators searched a trash processing facility near his mother's home. Found bags containing a hatchet, hammer, shears, hacksaw, towels, a protective TIVEX suit, cleaning agents, a prod of purse, boots like the ones Anna was last seen wearing, and a COVID vaccination card with her name. The Massachusetts State Crime Laboratory examined the items for DNA found Anna's DNA on the hatchet on the hacksaw on other items found Both Anna and Brian's DNA on the tivex suit, her DNA on a hacksaw found in a dumpster. If she died naturally in bed, how did her DNA get on dismemberment tools found in the trash. The defense says, Brian panic.

18:00 He never thought anyone would believe Anna was alive one minute and dead the next. All he could think about was his three boys. What would happen to them if police thought he did something bad to Anna? So instead of calling nine to one pint one, instead of calling a doctor, instead of doing what any normal person would do when their spouse die suddenly, he allegedly dismembered her body, disposed of the pieces, bought cleaning supplies, searched for how to get away with murder, and waited three days to report her missing. That's the defense. Panic made him do it. Love for his children made him chop up his wife and throw her in dumpsters. Make it make sense. Here's more context the defense has to explain. At the time of Anna's death, Brian was on house arrest, awaiting sentencing for a separate fraud case. He'd pleaded guilty to selling fake Andy Warhol paintings. Already a convicted criminal, already facing prison time, Anna had taken out two point seven million dollars in life insurance policies. Brian was the sole beneficiary, and court documents reveal Anna was having an affair, told a friend she planned to leave her husband, had a romantic relationship with a man named William Fastow, who helped her buy a townhouse in Washington, d C. Where she worked.

19:18 Brian claimed in interviews with police that he knew nothing about the affair. That Anna left for work on January first, between six and seven am, that she texted him her plane had landed in d C. That he hadn't heard from her after that. Her employer said there was no work emergency, no record she ever got on a plane. Her phone last interacted with Verizon on January second, at three a m near the Walshey home in Cohasset, Massachusetts. She never left because she was already dead. The trial has a complication. Former Massachusetts State Police trooper Michael Procter was involved in the investigation. If that name sounds familiar, it should. Proctor was the lead investigator in the Karen Read case. He was fired for sending offensive and sexist texts about read his credibility is destroyed. Defense attorneys have been fighting to access records from Proctor's involvement in this case.

20:11 If Proctor touched this investigation, expect the defense to attack every piece of evidence he handled. Brian Walshee pleaded guilty to two charges just before trial began, misleading a police officer and conveyance of a human body. Sentencing on those charges after the murder trial concludes. He's already admitted he lied, already admitted he disposed of a body. The only question left is whether he killed her or just happened to find her dead and then dismembered her out of panic. Anna Walshe was thirty nine years old, Serbian immigrant real estate executive, mother of three young children, now in state custody. Made over three hundred thousand dollars annually, had investment properties, had a life, a career, a future. Her body has never been found, but her DNA was found on tools designed for cutting through flesh and bone. Tools Her husband allegedly purchased tools found in trash bags he allegedly threw away.

21:13 Someone has to say her name. Anna Walshe thirty nine years old, gone your tax dollars at work. That's Celebrity Trials for Wednesday, December third, twenty twenty five. Luigi Mangone fighting to suppress the gun and journal prosecutors say prove he murdered Brian Thompson. Hearings continuing through the one year anniversary of the CEO's assassination Tomorrow. Michael Jordan disrupting jury selection just by existing, Denny Hamlin crying on the stand about his dying father, NASCAR's entire business model on trial, and Brian Walshey asking a jury to believe his wife just died suddenly in bed. That's why he googled how to dismember a body. That's why her DNA was on a hacksaw and a dumpster. Panic. Three trials, three very different defenses, one common thread. Everybody thinks they're smarter than the evidence. I'm reed, Carter. Tomorrow updates on all three trials and the first anniversary of Brian Thompson's murder. This is Celebrity Trials.