Case Explained: Luigi Mangione won’t face death penalty in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson – Legal Perspective

(NewsNation) — Luigi Mangione will not face the death penalty in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a New York federal district judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett’s ruling foiled the Trump administration’s bid to see Mangione executed for what it called a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

Garnett dismissed a federal murder charge against Mangione, arguing it was technically flawed, doing 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.

Garnett also ruled that prosecutors can use evidence collected from Mangione’s backpack during his arrest, including a 9 mm handgun prosecutors allege matches the murder weapon, along with a notebook they claim describes an intent to kill a health 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 appealed.

Garnett acknowledged that the decision might strike the average person and legal experts “as tortured and strange, and the result may seem contrary to our intuitions about the criminal law.” But, she continued, it represents her “committed effort to faithfully apply the dictates of the Supreme Court to the charges in this case. The law must be the Court’s only concern.”

Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty in federal and state murder cases. The New York charges carry the possibility of life in prison.

He is due in court later Friday morning for a conference in the case.

Last week, Garnett scheduled jury selection in the federal case for Sept. 8. The state trial has not yet been scheduled.

On Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann asked Judge Gregory Carro to begin the state trial July 1, arguing the state’s interests “would be unfairly prejudiced by an unnecessary delay” until after the federal trial.

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 firing shots from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, referencing a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, a 27-year-old Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles west of Manhattan.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.