U.S. Judge Margaret Garnett on Thursday barred prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against Luigi Mangione, the 27-year-old accused of gunning down United Healthcare chief executive Brian Thompson in New York in December 2024.
In a ruling that reshapes the federal case, Garnett dismissed two death-eligible counts against Mangione — murder and using a gun with a silencer — effectively taking capital punishment off the table. Mangione still faces two federal counts of stalking, and he remains charged with murder at the state level.
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“Today’s decision is solely to foreclose the death penalty as an available punishment to be considered by the jury,” Garnett wrote in a court filing.
The killing of Thompson — captured on surveillance video — stunned the country and fueled renewed anger over the profit-driven U.S. health care system. Thompson led United Healthcare, one of the largest private insurers in the United States.
Authorities arrested Mangione five days after the shooting at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 370 kilometers (230 miles) from the New York crime scene, after a tip from a restaurant staff member. The arrest quickly became central to a broader evidentiary fight that reached the judge’s docket this week.
In a separate ruling, Garnett rejected a defense bid to suppress evidence recovered during the arrest, clearing prosecutors to use items seized from a backpack found at the time. According to court filings, officers discovered a handgun, a silencer, a magazine with bullets wrapped in underwear and a red notebook described as a “manifesto.” The defense had argued the search violated legal standards; the judge disagreed.
By dismissing the federal murder and silencer charges while preserving the stalking counts and the backpack evidence, the court’s orders redraw the contours of the prosecution ahead of trial. The federal case will proceed without a capital sentencing phase, while state-level murder charges continue on a separate track.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all counts. Neither side immediately indicated whether they would seek further review of Thursday’s rulings.
The case has drawn outsized attention since Thompson’s killing, fueled by the stark footage of the attack and by the prominence of the victim in the nation’s health care industry. Prosecutors have not publicly discussed a motive. With the death penalty excluded federally, the government’s case will now turn on proving the remaining counts and, if convicted, seeking a non-capital sentence.
Further court dates were not immediately available. Mangione remains in custody.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
