A federal judge in Manhattan ruled on Friday that prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty in the trial of Luigi Mangione, 27, who has been accused of killing former UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The judge’s ruling marks an embarrassing setback for federal prosecutors, who were adamant about seeking the death penalty for Mangione.
Prosecutors had argued that Mangione stalked Thompson, 50, on the internet, and travelled across state lines to shoot and kill him.
In her ruling, Judge Margaret Garnett said the two stalking charges that Mangione faces are not “crimes of violence.” She dismissed two counts in his federal case: murder and a related firearm offense.
“The analysis contained in the balance of this opinion may strike the average person—and indeed many lawyers and judges—as tortured and strange, and the result may seem contrary to our intuitions about the criminal law,” Garnett wrote.
“But it represents the Court’s committed effort to faithfully apply the dictates of the Supreme Court to the charges in this case,” the judge continued. “The law must be the Court’s only concern.”
He still faces two counts of interstate stalking, which carry a maximum life in prison sentence.
Attorney General Pam Bondi had sought the death penalty for Mangione, which she said was warranted because Mangione executed a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”
Mangione’s defense attorneys had argued before the judge that Bondi’s previous work as a lobbyist for a firm that represented the insurer’s parent company was a “profound conflict of interest.”
Another federal judge had dismissed the terrorism charge Mangione faced. Justice Gregory Carro said he found evidence that the terrorism charge was “legally insufficient.”
He still faces several state charges in New York, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and multiple weapon possession charges. If convicted, the state charges also carry a potential life without parole sentence.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to both his federal and state charges. He has been accused of fatally shooting Thompson outside a midtown Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4, 2024, as Thompson was leaving for an early-morning conference.
Jury selection for the federal trial will begin on September 8, and opening statements are scheduled to start on October 13.
Judge Garnett additionally ruled Friday that prosecutors could use evidence recovered from Mangione’s backpack at the time of his arrest in the trial.
Law enforcement recovered several items in his backpack when he was arrested at an Altoona, Pennsylvania McDonald’s in 2024, including a handgun, a loaded magazine, and a red notebook. Prosecutors have said this evidence clearly ties him to Thompson’s killing.
Mangione’s attorneys had argued that the backpack should be barred from trial, claiming the search of the backpack was illegal as law enforcement had not yet sought a search warrant at the time of his arrest.
“The search was reasonable under the facts of this case,” Garnett ruled.
