A US judge dismissed murder charges against Luigi Mangione, accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, citing legal incompatibility with stalking counts.
NEW YORK: A US judge has dismissed murder and weapons charges against Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
US District Judge Margaret Garnett in Manhattan ruled the federal murder charge was legally incompatible with the two stalking charges Mangione still faces.
Mangione, 27, still faces possible life in prison without parole if convicted on the stalking charges.
Federal prosecutor Dominic Gentile said the government has not decided whether to appeal the dismissal.
Thompson was shot and killed on 4 December 2024 outside the Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan.
Mangione pleaded not guilty to all federal charges and has been jailed since his arrest in Pennsylvania five days after the killing.
While officials condemned the killing, Mangione became a folk hero to some Americans who decry high healthcare costs.
Garnett has scheduled jury selection to begin in September, with the evidence phase starting on 12 October.
Mangione has also pleaded not guilty to separate murder, weapons and forgery charges in a New York state court.
No trial date has been set in the state case, where prosecutors saw terrorism-related counts dismissed last September.
In a 39-page decision, Garnett said prosecutors could pursue murder charges only if the stalking charges qualified as “crimes of violence”.
She ruled they did not qualify because any use of force could be achieved through reckless, not solely intentional, conduct.
The judge acknowledged the “apparent absurdity” of the legal landscape given the alleged violent conduct.
Garnett said her analysis may seem “tortured and strange” but represented a faithful application of Supreme Court dictates.
In a separate ruling, Garnett rejected Mangione’s bid to exclude evidence seized from his backpack upon arrest.
Mangione argued police obtained items like a 9mm pistol and journal entries without a warrant.
The judge said it was standard practice to search closed bags that might contain dangerous objects.
She also stated the contents would have been discovered inevitably through a federal search warrant. – Reuters
