Who is Thomas Dickey? Lawyer decries lack of evidence tying Luigi Mangione to CEO shooting

Thomas Dickey, an attorney of over 30 years, is set for what could be his most high-profile case as he represents Luigi Mangione, the Maryland native who authorities believe is the prime suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's murder.

Dickey told reporters on Tuesday that his 26-year-old client intends to fight extradition back to New York from Altoona, Pennsylvania, where local police arrested and charged him with having a fake ID, a 3D-printed gun and a suppressor. Altoona police received a tip from a McDonald's employee, who was notified by a customer about a man that was later identified as Mangione.

Prosecutors in Manhattan have filed multiple charges against Mangione, including second-degree murder, multiple weapon-related charges and a forgery charge. Dickey said his client also intends to plead not guilty to these alleged offenses.

"I haven't seen any evidence that says that he's the shooter," Dickey said Tuesday, later adding: "We're going to fight this along the rules and with the constitutional protections that my client has."

The investigation gained steam Wednesday as multiple outlets, citing anonymous sources, reported that law enforcement had found a match between Mangione's fingerprints and the fingerprints discovered at the scene of the CEO's shooting.

Live updates: Police link Luigi Mangione to fingerprints at CEO shooting scene, reports say

Here is what to know about Dickey and his legal career ahead of several anticipated court proceedings for Mangione.

Who is Thomas Dickey?

Dickey is described on his firm's website as a lifetime resident of Blair County, Pennsylvania, where Mangione was arrested.

The attorney graduated from Altoona High School before obtaining an undergraduate degree in history/political science from Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania, his firm states. After Dickey received his law degree from Ohio Northern University, he joined the Blair County Public Defenders Office where he "developed his trade for helping citizens navigate the legal system," according to the firm.

He eventually began his private practice in 1984, per his firm.

Dickey specializes in providing "defense against all levels of criminal charges" as well as civil litigation, according to the firm.

"A passionate advocate for his clients, Dickey believes in the Constitution and the blueprint it gives for being a citizen in this great country!" his firm's website states.

What has Thomas Dickey done?

According to Dickey's firm, the attorney has taken a variety of misdemeanor and felony cases involving charges of murder, rape and other sexual offenses. Dickey and his associates have been involved in cases in over half of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania, including in federal court.

Aside from Mangione, Dickey has notably represented 31-year-old Nicholas Horner, an Iraqi war veteran who was charged with double homicide after being accused of killing a clerk and fatally shooting another man in April 2009 during the robbery of a Subway sandwich shop in Altoona. Horner died in 2019 at age 39 while serving life without parole for the murders, the Altoona Mirror reported.

Dickey has also served as a consultant for local television stations, notably for the case of Jerry Sandusky, a now-convicted serial child molester and retired college football coach, according to the firm.

What is Thomas Dickey arguing in Luigi Mangione's defense?

So far, Dickey has argued that authorities have not told him about any evidence that links the gun found on Mangione to Thompson's murder.

"I have not been made aware of any evidence that links the gun that was found on his person to the crime, so these are things that we're looking to see," Dickey told ABC News's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday.

"Today's another day. We're looking forward to beginning our inquiry as to what evidence may or may not be out there."

As of Wednesday, New York police have not confirmed that the 3D-printed gun recovered in Altoona is a match to the one used in Thompson's murder in Midtown Manhattan last week. The department did acknowledge that the gun looks similar based on images and video from the scene and that the firearm will undergo ballistic testing, authorities told media.

"A lot of guns look the same," Dickey told "Good Morning America." "If you brought a gun in and said, 'Well, it looks like that,' I don't even know if that evidence would be admissible. And if so, I would argue that it wouldn't be given much weight."

During the interview, Dickey also alluded to documents found with Mangione in Altoona. The attorney cautioned the public to look a potential evidence "in its entirety" and to not take pieces of writing or other evidence "out of context," he told the morning show.

What's next for Thomas Dickey and Luigi Mangione?

As Mangione awaits possible extradition back to New York, he will remain in Pennsylvania state prison for charges he picked up on Monday after a judge denied him bail.

During an interview on NewsNation’s "Cuomo" with Chris Cuomo, which aired Tuesday night, Dickey said he "felt that the judge should have set bail (Tuesday)" because his client is "entitled to that under the Constitution."

"The Constitution says that even when you're accused of a crime, you're entitled to bail," the attorney said. "You're entitled to having bail set unless in Pennsylvania, (there's) two exception to that, number one is that you're charged with a capital case, which means that there's a death penalty on the table... And number two is if the charges which you're facing carries a life without the possibility of parole sentence, which is Pennsylvania's first-degree murder."

It is unclear when or if extradition will take place, but police continue to investigate the case.

Most recently, officials found a positive match between fingerprints found at the scene of the shooting and Mangione's, multiple news outlets reported, citing police sources.

Police did not say where the fingerprints were found at the scene. The law enforcement officials did tell the outlets that the alleged gunman stopped at a Starbucks before the shooting and used cash to buy a bottle of water and protein bars. These items were recovered and analyzed for forensic evidence, the officials said, per the outlets.

Contributing: Christopher Cann, Chris Kenning, Dinah Voyles Pulver & Jorge L. Ortiz/ USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who is Thomas Dickey? What to know about attorney for Luigi Mangione