Prosecutors can’t seek death penalty against Luigi Mangione, judge rules

Federal prosecutors can’t seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge ruled Friday, foiling the Trump administration’s bid to see him executed for what it called a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed a federal murder charge against Mangione, finding it was technically flawed. She wrote that she did so to “foreclose the death penalty as an available punishment to be considered by the jury” as it weighs whether to convict Mangione.

Garnett also dismissed a gun charge, but left in place stalking charges that carry a maximum punishment of life in prison. In order to seek the death penalty, prosecutors needed to show that Mangione killed Thompson while committing another “crime of violence.” Stalking doesn’t fit that definition, Garnett wrote in her opinion, citing case law and legal precedents.

In a win for prosecutors, Garnett ruled that prosecutors can use evidence collected from his backpack during his arrest, including a 9-mm handgun and a notebook in which authorities say Mangione described his intent to “wack” an insurance executive.

Mangione’s lawyers had sought to exclude those items, arguing the search was illegal because police hadn’t yet obtained a warrant.

The rulings could be subject to appeals. A message seeking comment was left for a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, which is prosecuting the federal case.

Garnett acknowledged that the decision “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.”

But, she said, it reflected her “committed effort to faithfully apply the dictates of the Supreme Court to the charges in this case. The law must the court’s only concern.”

WATCH | Death penalty off the table:

Death penalty off the table for Luigi Mangione as judge dismisses federal murder charge

A federal judge in New York has dismissed a murder charge against Luigi Mangione, accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in 2024. U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett found the charge technically flawed. Mangione will still face federal stalking and firearms charges, as well as a separate state murder charge.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty

Mangione, 27, appeared relaxed as he sat with his lawyers at a brief, previously scheduled hearing about an hour after Garnett issued her written ruling. Prosecutors retained their right to appeal the decision but said they were ready to proceed to trial.

Mangione’s lawyers didn’t address the decision during the hearing. But his lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said afterward that her client and his defence team were relieved by the “incredible decision.”

Jury selection in the federal case is scheduled to begin Sept. 8, followed by opening statements and testimony beginning on Oct. 13. The state trial hasn’t been scheduled yet. On Wednesday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office sent a letter urging the judge in that case to set a July 1 trial date.

Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a midtown Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference.

Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Penn., about 370 kilometres west of Manhattan.

Following through on Donald Trump’s campaign promise to vigorously pursue capital punishment, Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors last April to seek the death penalty against Mangione.

It was the first time the Justice Department was seeking to bring the death penalty in Trump’s second presidential term. He returned to office a year ago with a vow to resume federal executions after they were halted under his predecessor, Joe Biden.

‘Based on politics, not merit’

Garnett, a Biden appointee, ruled after a flurry of court filings in the prosecution and defence in recent months. She held oral arguments on the matter earlier this month.

In addition to seeking to have the death penalty thrown out on the grounds Garnett cited, Mangione’s lawyers argued that Bondi’s announcement flouted long-established Justice Department protocols and showed the decision was “based on politics, not merit.”

They said her remarks, which were followed by posts to her Instagram account and a TV appearance, “indelibly prejudiced” the grand jury process that resulted in his indictment a few weeks later.

Prosecutors urged Garnett to keep the death penalty on the table, arguing that the charges allowing for such punishment were legally sound and that Bondi’s remarks weren’t prejudicial, as “pretrial publicity, even when intense, is not itself a constitutional defect.”

Rather than dismissing the case outright or barring the government from seeking the death penalty, prosecutors argued, the defence’s concerns can best be alleviated by carefully questioning prospective jurors about their knowledge of the case and ensuring Mangione’s rights are respected at trial.

“What the defendant recasts as a constitutional crisis is merely a repackaging of arguments” rejected in previous cases, prosecutors said. “None warrants dismissal of the indictment or categorical preclusion of a congressionally authorized punishment.”