Luigi Mangione won’t face death penalty after US judge dismisses murder charge
He could still be put behind bars for life if convicted of other charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
Federal prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge ruled on Friday, foiling the Trump administration’s bid to see him executed for what it called a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America”.
US District Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed a federal murder charge that had enabled prosecutors to seek capital punishment, finding that it was technically flawed. She wrote that she did so to “foreclose the death penalty as an available punishment to be considered by the jury” as it weighs whether to convict Mangione.
Garnett also dismissed a gun charge but left in place stalking charges that carry a maximum punishment of life in prison.
To seek the death penalty, prosecutors needed to show that Mangione killed Thompson while committing another “crime of violence”. Stalking does not fit that definition, Garnett wrote in her opinion, citing case law and legal precedents.
In a win for prosecutors, Garnett ruled that prosecutors can use evidence collected from his backpack during his arrest, including a 9mm handgun and a notebook in which authorities say Mangione described his intent to “wack” an insurance executive.
Mangione’s lawyers had sought to exclude those items, arguing the search was illegal because police had not yet obtained a warrant.