Excerpt:
Prosecutors highlighted “about $10,000 — $8,000 in U.S. dollars and then $2,000 in foreign currency that was found on his person,” CNN correspondent Danny Freeman said following the court hearing.
“Also they said that he had a Faraday bag,” which blocks cell signals, a move that prosecutors alleged marked “an indication of criminal sophistication and reason they should hold him on bail,” Freeman continued.
After prosecutors made the claims, Mangione said he would like to “correct two things.”
“I don’t know where any of that money came from — I’m not sure if it was planted. And also, that bag was waterproof, so I don’t know about criminal sophistication,” the suspect said in a statement that suggested police framed him.
Maybe, but in this case, as in many high-profile cases, the cops are determined to catch a guy, not necessarily the guy. Not that they care about this particular victim. They don’t. But they sure as hell don’t like looking like fools. If they felt that the real shooter had slipped away (after all, most murders do go unsolved these days) then they might be very inclined to find a patsy and frame him up.