Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the murder of UnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson, walks during his arraignment hearing in New York Supreme Court on December 23, 2024 in New York City.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
Luigi Mangione will not face the death penalty in the New York federal criminal case in which he is accused of killing health insurance CEO Brian Thompson, a judge ruled Friday.
In an order Friday, Manhattan Federal District Court Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed two of the four criminal charges Mr. Mangione, 27, faced in the case, one of which could have resulted in his execution if convicted.
The potential maximum sentences for the remaining two counts are united healthcare Garnett noted that Thompson’s death, an executive under federal stalking laws, was a “life sentence without parole.”
Mr. Thompson, 50, was shot and killed on a midtown Manhattan street in December 2024 as he walked to an investor event for his company’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group.
The third count accuses Mangione of using a firearm to kill Thompson during an act of stalking.
The ruling, which the judge rejected, could have given Mr. Mangione the death penalty. A fourth count, which was also dismissed, accused Mangione of using a firearm equipped with a silencer during the stalking.
“The crimes charged in Counts 3 and 4 require that the stalking offenses in Counts 1 and 2 meet the definition of a ‘crime of violence’ under federal law as a matter of law,” Garnett wrote.
“Defendant moves to dismiss Counts 3 and 4 on the basis that this requirement is not met.”
Luigi Mangione appears with defense attorneys Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Mark Agnifilo as U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett announces that he will not receive the death penalty during a hearing in Manhattan federal court on a murder charge for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, U.S., January 30, 2026. This courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg Reuter
The judge acknowledged that the analysis she applied to that argument “could be torturous and bizarre to the public, and indeed to many lawyers and judges,” and ruled that Supreme Court precedent bound her to the conclusion that the first two counts did not meet the definition of a “crime of violence.”
“Motion approved.”
Separately on Friday, Garnett rejected a motion by Mangione’s attorneys to conceal the contents of a backpack Mangione had with him when he was questioned and detained by police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after Thompson’s murder.
When police searched the backpack, they first found a loaded gun magazine, then a handgun, a silencer, and a red notebook. Mangione’s lawyers had argued that the search was legally invalid.
Mr. Mangione has also been charged with murder in state court in Manhattan, and prosecutors are seeking to try him ahead of a federal trial.
The death penalty is not an option in criminal cases brought in New York state courts.
