Masses of people rallying in support of, not the Beatles, but Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO.

This as he appeared in front of a judge today.

Now, the case is revealing, as you well know, the public's anger towards the healthcare industry.

Some of the supporters carrying signs declaring, free Luigi. Others were wearing green to show solidarity with the accused killer.

And inside court, Mangione was wearing a green sweater underneath a vest that appeared to be bulletproof. His ankles shackled while wearing loafers without socks.

A judge denying a request to unshackle him.

All of this was playing out in the same courtroom, can you believe it, as President Trump's hush money trial.

The spectacle overshadowing the true seriousness of this case.

Now, once the hearing started, prosecutors detailed the evidence that they say proves Mangione killed Brian Thompson in New York City last December.

With me now, sketch artist Christine Cornell.

She was in court today for Mangione's hearing.

Christine, as is the case in these very monumental cases, you were just feet away from the defendant, Mangione, today.

Can you describe what his demeanor was like?

You know, Mr. Mangione doesn't show an awful lot of emotional play on his face.

I mean, he has very distinct markings.

He kind of reminds me of a husky and he's very alert, but he's not engaging.

I did catch his eye briefly when I put my binoculars on him, which I'm sure he wasn't really enjoying.

But I wanted to get those rather delicate drawing of his eyes.

They're elegant, his features.

And, you know, he's kind of pretty, but he's also a little vacant.

Did he react as the statements were being made?

Was there a moment in time that you saw his emotions go from stoic to more emotive?

Nope, no emotion at all.

He did have his neck craned around to watch the prosecutor while he talked about the, you know, quantity of evidence they had with the defense attorney interjecting.

We haven't seen that stuff yet, sir.

You know, they were basically dickering around those those little, you know, procedural type stuff.

But that's his face.

Really? Well, he had a lot of supporters, frankly, a ton of supporters outside.

And I understand also inside the court, many of them were wearing green.

They apparently to show some sort of solidarity with the alleged killer and defendant.

What was the atmosphere inside the courtroom like?

What was the reaction when people saw him come in, particularly those who were wearing green in support?

You know, I think that the reason they wouldn't unshackle him didn't have so much to do with the officers being worried about what he might do.

But the supporters, I mean, all he would have to do is swing around and raise an arm and say something and you'd have a mayhem.

The only time I've ever seen people gather like fans of a defendant who's accused of something really kind of brutal, kind of, is John Gotti.

And he had a regular following who'd show up in the wee hours.

But I mean, talk about the age of social media.

He had maybe 50 people.

You might have had, you know, several thousand today.

When he walked in and he was visible to those who supported him and frankly, those who were in the courtroom for other reasons, did they say anything?

Could you hear what they were saying in reaction to being around him?

I don't think there was anybody in that room that wasn't there for him.

How did the judge react to that?

You know, I think that the judge was a little taken aback by the whole spectacle of this.

The last time Mr. Maggio was in court, it was very small.

I think I may have been the only courtroom artist there.

It was tiny. This time, this was an explosion.

I mean, he didn't even take the time to say, to ask the lawyers to stand up and say their names and present themselves.

It was just kind of, you know, let's get through this.

And then I almost felt as if he wanted to get out of there as swift as he could, too.

The defense attorney was complaining that she hasn't had time to sit with him and be with him.

And the judge said, well, you're going to have to do it right here and now.

And then he left the room.

And when that conversation was happening.

Go ahead. So what did you say, Christine?

She just, his lawyer just wanted to speak to him.

She said, I didn't get a chance to see him before this hearing.

And and the judge asked if it was possible for them to meet somewhere.

And nope, the officers weren't going to have any more moving of bodies around.

If they were going to talk, they were going to have to have their little private conference right there in the courtroom.

There was no special accommodations to be made.

Christine Cornell, always a front seat to the history.

Let's not forget the seriousness of the charges he is facing.

Thank you so much. Thank you, ma'am.

I want to bring in Jeremy Saland, who is a former Manhattan prosecutor.

Jeremy, you know, Beatlemania as one description, people wearing green in support of obviously the Mario Bros character Luigi, apparently.

But half a million dollars, a ton of fans today, a sign that says jury nullification.

Should prosecutors be nervous about even jury selection?

Well, we know and you know from your experience, all you need is one.

You don't need to necessarily get the acquittal. You need one for the hung to hang that jury.

But jury nullification is a concern, but within reason, too, because you find that jury and you find those people.

You can find it for Donald Trump. You can find it for Eric Adams.

If it ever gets there, you can find it for any case.

If you do your due diligence and you really make sure you do your homework with that jury selection.

I still think you've got to try to push if you're Karen Agnifilo for some sort of infirmity, meaning you're not guilty by reason of insanity, very difficult, extreme emotional disturbance, which is even an elevated version of that.

But jury nullification is certainly going to come into play because all you need is one.

You know, speaking of his attorney, Karen Agnifilo, she said that she's still trying to figure out if prosecutors will even pursue the death penalty in this case.

I wonder, will that decision change maybe how she defends him? And if so, how?

Well, it's a good question because in New York, that's not when I say New York, New York state, that's not going to happen.

The federal government, the U.S. Attorney's Office out of the Southern District can pursue that.

But we also know the Manhattan case is going first in time.

My assumption, and I can't tell you what's going to happen, but is if there is a conviction on the state level before Judge Caro, who's a sitting and presiding judge, and they get a murder one conviction, which is going to be a hard lift in my opinion, but even a murder two, which can be up to a life sentence.

I don't know whether or not the Southern District continues with that case to redo this again solely to get the death penalty.

Maybe they do, maybe they don't. But that still does not change that basic issue here, at least on the state level for now, which is if we can get this extreme emotional distress or that other issue of the infirmity, we can get this to a manslaughter in the first degree, which doesn't give a life sentence.

Yeah, I still think you have to have that sort of attack of the case other than the initial things, which is the search is bad.

Any statements that were obtained were done unlawfully, things like that.

The burden still is in the prosecution, but certainly there is a weight to pull if you're the defense in a case so public.

Jeremy Salan, thank you so much. My pleasure.