Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson, walks on the day of an arraignment hearing, at New York Supreme Court in New York City, Dec. 23, 2024.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
Luigi Mangione will not face a possible death penalty sentence in the New York federal criminal case where he is charged with killing health insurance CEO Brian Thompson, a judge ruled Friday.
Manhattan U.S. District Court Judge Margaret Garnett, in an order on Friday, dismissed two of the four criminal counts Mangione faced in the case.
The potential maximum sentence for the remaining two counts for causing the UnitedHealthcare executive Thompson’s death under federal stalking laws in December 2024 on a midtown Manhattan street is “life in prison without parole,” Garnett noted.
The third count, which the judge tossed out, accused Mangione of the murder of Thompson through the use of a firearm during that alleged stalking, “is a capital-eligible offense,” the judge wrote. The fourth count, which was also dismissed, accused Mangione of the use of a firearm equipped with a silencer during the stalking.
“The crimes charged in Counts Three and Four require that the stalking crimes in Count One and Two meet the federal statutory definition of ‘crimes of violence’ as a matter of law,” Garnett wrote. “The Defendant has moved to dismiss Counts Three and Four on that ground that this requirement is not satisfied.”
The judge, who admitted that the analysis she applied to that argument “may strike the average person — and indeed many lawyers and judges — as tortured and strange,” ruled that Supreme Court precedent bound her to conclude that the first two counts did not meet the definition of “crimes of violence.”
“The motion is GRANTED.”
Separately on Friday, Garnett dismissed a motion by Mangione’s defense team to suppress the contents of the backpack in his possession when he was questioned and detained by police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after Thompson’s slaying.
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