Featured Image Credit: Pool/Getty
Topics: Luigi Mangione, New York, Crime, US News
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A judge has announced a major update to Luigi Mangione’s case who stands accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Today (September 16), a New York state judge has moved to dismiss two criminal counts brought against Mangione in connection with Thompson's murder last year.
On December 4, 2024, the healthcare boss was shot and killed in the early hours outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, in what the cops said was a 'targeted attack'.
Following a nationwide manhunt, the FBI eventually apprehended Mangione from a McDonald's restaurant in Pennsylvania days later on December 9.
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The 27-year-old was then charged with 11 state criminal counts in New York, including first-degree murder and murder as a crime of terrorism.
As well as the state charges, Mangione has separately been charged for federal charges of using a firearm to commit murder and interstate stalking resulting in death, both of which could make him eligible for the death penalty.
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Mangione has pleaded not guilty to both state and federal charges against him.
Now, Judge Gregory Carro in Manhattan has dismissed two criminal counts, announcing the decision as Mangione was led into the courtroom in his first appearance in state court since February.
Two terror-related charges, including murder in the first degree in a furtherance of an act of terrorism and murder in the second degree as a crime of terrorism, are now dropped as Judge Carro said they are 'legally insufficient'.
Mangione still faces a count of murder in the second degree as the judge said prosecutors have 'legally sufficient evidence of all other counts', as per NBC News.
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The news comes as his legal team argued the terror-related charges should be pulled since New York state legislation defines terrorism as attacks on multiple civilians, not the killing of a single person.
Judge Carro wrote in his decision: "While the People place great emphasis on defendant’s ‘ideological’ motive, there is no indication in the statute that a murder committed for ideological reasons (in this case, the defendant’s apparent desire to draw attention to what he perceived as inequities or greed within the American health care system), fits within the definition of terrorism without establishing the necessary element of an in tent to intimidate or coerce," reports CNN.
However, Mangione's defense lawyers also argue their client is facing double jeopardy with Pennsylvania state and federal charges which Carro rejected, dubbing the argument 'premature'.
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The judge then set hearings for Mangione's case to begin on December 1, though a trial date has not yet been set.
Earlier this year, Attorney General Pam Bondi encouraged federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Mangione while prosecutors state his alleged slaying has encouraged others to commit similar acts of violence in the US.
The discussion follows a surge of politically motivated attacks across the country, notably after the assassination of right-wing commentator and conservative activist Charlie Kirk as he spoke at a college event in Utah.