A New York judge on Tuesday dismissed terrorism charges against Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, but kept murder charges in place.
Mangione, 27, appeared in Manhattan state court for the first time since February, where Judge Gregory Carro ruled that while the December 2024 killing was not an ordinary street crime, it did not meet the legal definition of terrorism under New York law.
“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 in his decision, according to MPR.
Mangione pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and other charges. Prosecutors allege he shot Thompson from behind outside the New York Hilton Midtown as the executive arrived for an investor conference. Surveillance video captured the killing, and authorities say ammunition recovered from the scene was scrawled with the words “delay,” “deny,” and “depose.”
The ruling marks a significant shift in the state’s case, which initially charged Mangione with murder in furtherance of terrorism. He still faces federal charges, where U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced prosecutors will seek the death penalty, calling the killing “an act of political violence” and a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,” in an April press release.
Mangione’s lawyers have argued that the overlapping state and federal prosecutions amount to double jeopardy, but Carro rejected that claim as premature. The Manhattan prosecutors argued that the cases differ in their legal theories and therefore do not meet the definition of double jeopardy.
The Ivy League graduate has drawn a following among critics of the health insurance industry. His supporters are frequently clad in bright green, a nod to the Nintendo character Luigi, with whom Mangione shares a name, according to entries on a Reddit thread.
Prosecutors cited Mangione’s alleged handwritten diary in court filings, where he allegedly praised the Unabomber and expressed a desire to strike against what he described as a “greedy,” cartel-like health care system. In one note, allegedly, he wrote that killing an insurance executive “conveys a greedy bastard that had it coming.”
Mangione was arrested five days after the shooting at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He has remained in custody at a Brooklyn federal jail.
Carro scheduled the next state pretrial hearings for December 1, just days before Mangione is also due in federal court.