Luigi Mangione will not face the death penalty, judge rules

Luigi Mangione, charged in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel in December 2024, will not face the death penalty, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett issued her ruling on a defense motion to waive the death penalty in court at a hearing on Friday morning. The Justice Department had sought the death penalty in the case.

“No one could seriously question that this is violent criminal conduct,” Garnett said in a written opinion.

However, the judge said that two stalking-related charges — one of which carried a maximum sentence of death — failed to meet the statuary definition of a “crime of violence” and therefore must be dismissed.

Garnett said the case would still proceed to trial the other counts, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.

The judge also ruled to allow evidence recovered from Mangione’s backpack at the time of his arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., to be used in his upcoming federal trial.

Among the items seized were a 3D-printed handgun, a silencer and a notebook with handwritten entries that prosecutors called a “manifesto.” In one entry, which was leaked to the media, he allegedly wrote that “parasites” who run health care companies “simply had it coming.”

Mangione’s lawyers argued that all the items recovered from the backpack should not be admissible at trial because police searched the bag without a warrant, saying there was no immediate threat to justify such a search. They also asked the judge to suppress any statements Mangione made to law enforcement in Pennsylvania before his extradition to New York.

Man charged with posing as FBI agent in apparent attempt to spring Mangione

Since his extradition, Mangione, 27, has been held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Earlier this week, a man was charged with impersonating an FBI agent after he allegedly showed up at the prison claiming to have a court order to release Mangione.

According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Mark Anderson, 35, was arrested at the facility late Wednesday.

Anderson claimed that he was an FBI agent in possession of paperwork signed by a judge authorizing the release of “a specific inmate,” the complaint said. The inmate was not named in the complaint, but NBC News reported that it was Mangione.

Per NBC News, Anderson was ordered detained and is being held at the same Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn as Mangione.

What is Mangione charged with, exactly?

Mangione is facing both federal and state murder charges stemming from Thompson’s Dec. 4, 2024, killing.

In September, Gregory Carro, the judge overseeing the New York state case, dismissed terrorism and first-degree murder charges but allowed other charges, including second-degree murder and multiple firearms offenses, to stand. He is facing additional state charges in Pennsylvania.

Federal charges:

New York state charges:

Pennsylvania state charges:

Mangione’s federal trial will begin with opening statements on Oct. 13, Garnett said. Jury selection will begin on Sept. 8.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office said this week that it wants Mangione’s state trial to begin on July 1, before his federal trial proceeds. Carro has yet to set a date for trial.