Yesterday I wrote about the failure of Luigi Mangione's lawyers to get most of the evidence found in his backpack tossed out of his trial. His attorneys had argued that the search of his backpack was illegal and therefore everything therein, including his 3D printed gun, silencer and journal, should be off limits in his trial.
But after hearings and testimony from both sides, the judge handling the case concluded that only some items would be ruled inadmissible, including the magazine for his gun, a phone and a memory card. But the most important items (the gun and journal) would be allowed in.
There was an update to the story which included video of three women who call themselves the Mangionistas. They were outside the courthouse reacting to the judge's ruling and making fools of themselves by cheering on a murderer.
“I’m saying fuck Brian Thompson. I don’t give a flying fuck he died,” says Ashley Rojas, wearing her press badge provided by @NYCMayorsOffice. Lena Weissbrot adds that Thompson’s teenage sons “are better off without him” and should “enjoy the blood money.” pic.twitter.com/uQnHIHoC0x
— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) May 18, 2026
What was shocking to the journalist who filmed this was that at least two of them seemed to have official New York City press passes.
Luigi Mangione supporters, who’ve been granted New York City press credentials, gleefully praised the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in comments to the Daily News Monday and pointed to plans to spread their message when jury selection starts.
“F—k Brian Thompson. I don’t give a flying f—k he died,” said Ashley Rojas, who declined to provide her name, though it was visible on the press badge around her neck, alongside a button with Mangione depicted as a saint.
“His children are better off without him. They need to learn to not be like their dad. And enjoy the blood money, kids,” added fellow “independent journalist” Lena Weissbrot.
But the Mangionistas aren't just offering obnoxious commentary. The are planning to do what they can to help Mangione escape justice.
Rojas, Weissbrot, and Abril Rios operate social media accounts under the handle “Mangionistas.” On Monday, they said they were planning to set up tables outside the courthouse when jury selection starts in Mangione’s state case in September with information on jury nullification, which is when a jury votes “not guilty” despite believing a defendant committed the charged crime.
Asked about the ethics of doing so, Rios said, “We can’t … go up to the jurors that are selected. That would be jury tampering. But we can talk to anyone in public.”
This would obviously be a terrible outcome for the city and the country. Mangione is legally innocent until proven guilty, but the evidence of his guilt is overwhelming in this case. His gun matches shell casings found at the scene. The silencer matches images from the scene. His journal includes a manifesto explaining his hatred for health care CEOs, thereby providing a clear motive. Absent some kind of jury nullification, he's going to prison for life.
Jury nullification would signal to the entire country that even people caught committing cold-blooded murder on video will not be punished. It would be a big green light to every extremist nut out there who wants to "Luigi" someone, up to and including President Trump.
So who are these weirdos? The Free Press has more on that.
Weissbrot is a graduate of Florida State University and was one of five U.S. students awarded a Fulbright fellowship in 2015 to study the influence of music around the world. Her particular focus on hip-hop as a form of activism took her to South Africa. She appears to have been a graduate student and to have taught in the University of California, Los Angeles, design media arts program in 2023 and 2024, according to a course review website. Her biography refers to her as a “game developer” and “media artist” whose work “contends with the structures in place that prevent individuals from affecting meaningful change.”
In 2014, Weissbrot created a game called “F**k Everything.” The idea is to, well, you know. She described it as a “dating simulation where you can have intercourse with people, animals, monsters and inanimate objects!”...
Standing next to her was Abril Rios, an influencer turned organizer involved with Hot Girls for Zohran, according to her interview with reporter Vicky Ward last year. Rios’s LinkedIn profile describes her as a social media manager at Ali Design & Consulting Services, a New York-based digital marketing firm that says it has “a passion for justice, equity, and inclusion.” Its clients include CAIR Action, a lobbying firm that “acts as the voice of American Muslims in the political process.”
In short, they are far-left activists who have latched onto Mangione because they support murder for political ends. But despite their offer to help rig the jury, even Mangione's lawyers distanced themselves from these nutjobs.
A lawyer for Mangione, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said in a statement that the Mangionistas “do not represent the views of Luigi, nor the tens of thousands who have shown their support from around the world. The only people who speak for Luigi are his attorneys. We condemn these vile and irresponsible statements that have no place in the discourse around these cases.”
Mayor Mamdani also distanced himself, saying these women should not have been given NYC press passes.
Mamdani told reporters on Tuesday that "those three individuals should not have received press passes."
"There is a good-natured debate to be had about where a press pass should extend and where it shouldn't. However, the three people that we are talking about don't fall within that debate," he said.
It's nice we can all agree on something but, despite the Mayor's comments, it's not clear these passes can be taken away at this point.
The bigger story here is that left-wing activists have become comfortable openly advocating for cold-blooded murder as a part of their politics. That should worry everyone because there are probably a lot more Mangione fans out there than people want to admit.
