A federal choose in New York on Friday dismissed the death-eligible counts from Luigi Mangione’s indictment, clearing the best way for his federal trial to start in October.
“Tortured and unusual” although she mentioned her conclusion could also be, U.S. District Decide Margaret Garnett dominated stalking is just not a criminal offense of violence and, subsequently, not a predicate to make the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson a capital crime.
“Nobody might significantly query that that is violent prison conduct,” Garnett wrote. Nonetheless, her opinion mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court docket requires her to research the allegations in a manner that’s “completely divorced from the conduct at challenge.”
Garnett mentioned crimes of violence should, by definition, contain pressure and, theoretically, stalking could possibly be dedicated with out it.
The protection wished the dying penalty taken off the desk, arguing that stalking “fails to qualify as a criminal offense of violence” and subsequently can’t be the predicate to make Mangione eligible for the dying penalty if he’s convicted of the federal costs. The protection additionally argued that the choice to hunt the dying penalty was political and circumvented the federal authorities’s protocols.
Luigi Mangione seems for a suppression of proof listening to within the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Felony Court docket, December 18, 2025 in New York Metropolis.
Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Pictures
Mangione, who’s accused of stalking and killing Thompson in Midtown Manhattan in December 2024, has pleaded not responsible to state and federal costs.
With the dying penalty off the desk, Garnett mentioned Mangione’s federal trial will start with opening statements on Oct. 13. Garnett mentioned jury selection will begin on Sept. 8.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office is individually making an attempt to persuade a state choose to place Mangione on trial on July 1, earlier than the federal case.
Luigi Mangione seems in Manhattan Felony Court docket, Dec. 16, 2025, in New York.
Seth Wenig/AP
Garnett on Friday additionally declined to suppress evidence seized from Mangione’s backpack when he was apprehended in Altoona, Pennsylvania. This ruling will permit prosecutors to make use of key proof at trial, together with the alleged homicide weapon and writings that prosecutors say quantity to a confession.
Garnett mentioned the search fell inside a number of exceptions to the necessities for acquiring a search warrant, together with the invention of the weapon and the chance that the proof would have been found inevitably.
Mangione’s attorneys had argued the backpack search was unlawful.
ABC Information’ Peter Charalambous contributed to this report.
