Judge tosses terrorism charge against Mangione for healthcare CEO shooting but murder count stands

A New York judge dismissed terrorism charges against Luigi Mangione on Tuesday in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, but kept the state's second-degree murder charges against him.

Mangione's lawyers argued that the New York case and a parallel federal death penalty prosecution amounted to double jeopardy.

But Judge Gregory Carro rejected that argument, saying it would be premature to make such a determination.

It's Mangione's first court appearance in the state case since February.

The 27-year-old Ivy League graduate has attracted a cult following as a stand-in for frustrations with the health insurance industry.

Dozens of his supporters showed up to his last hearing, many wearing the colour green associated with the character Luigi in the Super Mario Bros video games.

In his written decision, the judge said that although there is no doubt that the killing was not an ordinary street crime, New York law does not consider something terrorism simply because it was motivated by ideology.

"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," Carro wrote.

Carro scheduled pre-trial hearings in the case for 1 December, which is days before Mangione is next due in court in the federal case against him.

Not guilty plea

Mangione pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism, in the 4 December 2024 killing.

Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind as he arrived for an investor conference at the New York Hilton Midtown.

Police say "delay," "deny" and "depose" were scrawled on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase commonly used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione was arrested five days later after he was spotted eating breakfast at a McDonald’s in Altoona in the US state of Pennsylvania, about 370 kilometres west of New York City.

Since then, he has been held in a federal prison in Brooklyn.

The Manhattan district attorney's office contends that there are no double jeopardy issues because neither of Mangione’s cases has gone to trial and because the state and federal prosecutions involve different legal theories.

Mangione’s lawyers say the duelling cases have created a "legal quagmire" that makes it "legally and logistically impossible to defend against them simultaneously."

The state charges, which carry a maximum of life in prison, allege that Mangione wanted to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population," that is, insurance employees and investors.

The federal charges allege that Mangione stalked Thompson and do not involve terrorism allegations.

Death penalty

US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in April that she was directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for "an act of political violence" and a "premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America."

The Manhattan district attorney's office quoted extensively from Mangione’s handwritten diary in a court filing seeking to uphold his state murder charges.

They highlighted his desire to kill a senior insurance figure and his praise for Ted Kaczynski, the late terrorist known as the Unabomber.

In the writings, prosecutors said, Mangione mused about rebelling against "the deadly, greed fuelled health insurance cartel" and said killing an industry executive "conveys a greedy bastard that had it coming."

They also cited a confession they say he penned "to the feds (FBI federal agents)," in which he wrote that "it had to be done."

Mangione's "intentions were obvious from his acts, but his writings serve to make those intentions explicit," prosecutors said in the June filing.

The writings, which they sometimes described as a manifesto, "convey one clear message: that the murder of Brian Thompson was intended to bring about revolutionary change to the healthcare industry."