This ongoing photojournalism project begins with the arraignment of Luigi Mangione in New York federal court, where he pleaded not guilty to charges including the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Outside, the courthouse steps became a stage for competing narratives: clusters of supporters chanting his name, activists holding signs against the death penalty, counter-demonstrators voicing outrage, and a steady presence of cameras recording every gesture.

The images observe how protest, parody, and grief intersected in this moment. Some supporters arrived in costume, dressing as Nintendo’s Luigi to signal solidarity; others framed Mangione as a symbolic avenger against the health insurance industry. At the same time, critics denounced the scene as a distortion of justice, drawing attention back to the victim and his family. These tensions were amplified by props and performances—placards, costumes, even staged effigies—underscoring how quickly legal ritual can be subsumed into spectacle.

The project approaches the arraignment not as an isolated episode but as the opening act of a larger civic drama that will continue to unfold when the trial begins. Already, the case has entered the public imagination as more than a legal proceeding: it has become a site where questions of justice, morality, and collective identity are negotiated in real time. The photographs seek not to resolve these contradictions, but to show how they materialize in public space, where the courthouse becomes both tribunal and theater.