Judge dismisses 2 terror-related murder charges against Luigi Mangione

by · UPI

Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A New York judge dismissed two of 11 charges against Luigi Mangione in a Manhattan court Tuesday.

Judge Gregory Carro rejected the most severe charge, first-degree murder in furtherance of an act of terrorism. Carro said the evidence presented to support the terror charge was insufficient. Mangione still faces a charge of second-degree murder, as well as federal murder charges.

Mangione is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4, 2024.

"While the defendant was clearly expressing an animus toward UHC, and the health care industry generally, it does not follow that his goal was to 'intimidate and coerce a civilian population,' and indeed, there was no evidence presented of such a goal," the judge wrote in a decision issued on Tuesday morning.

Related

Prosecutors had argued Mangione's actions intimidated or coerced employees of UnitedHealthcare, but Carro said those fears weren't enough for a terrorism charge.

Carro also said terrorism didn't fit because terrorism as defined in New York state law refers to attacks on multiple civilians, not a shooting of a single person.

"While the People place great emphasis on [the] 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 intent to intimidate or coerce," Carro wrote in his decision.

"We respect the court's decision and will proceed on the remaining nine counts, including murder in the second degree," the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said in a statement.

Mangione did not speak at the hearing. There were three rows of his supporters in the courtroom, ABC News reported.

His lawyers sought to have his state case dismissed because he also faces federal charges of murder through the use of a firearm, interstate stalking resulting in death and a firearms offense which creates double jeopardy, and they want some evidence suppressed.

In Pennsylvania, he has been charged with forgery, carrying a firearm without a license, tampering with records or identification, giving false ID to law enforcement and possessing "instruments of crime."

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Mangione is a federal inmate at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., without bond.

Mangione's defense team also has asked Carro to suppress the evidence found in his backpack. The backpack allegedly contained the gun, a loaded magazine and his writings. The team has also asked to suppress any statements Mangione made to police after his Dec. 9 arrest at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pa., until his extradition to New York.

They argue that police conducted a "warrantless search" of the backpack and failed to give Mangione a Miranda warning. These requests weren't addressed at the hearing.

New York no longer has capital punishment. Mangione faces the death penalty in his federal case.