Mangione First-Degree Murder Charge in NY Case Is Dismissed (2)

A New York state judge dismissed first-degree murder charges against Luigi Mangione but allowed a lesser murder count to go to trial, ruling that prosecutors failed to show that he committed the crime as an act of terrorism.

Judge Gregory Carro ruled at a brief hearing Tuesday that prosecutors could pursue second-degree murder charges and several other counts against Mangione, who is accused of gunning down health-care executive Brian Thompson. The decision means that he won’t face the prospect of life in prison without parole.

Mangione still faces federal murder charges in a case in which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. The ruling is a major setback for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who had sought to show that state prosecutors could take a tough stance in the high-profile case.

The 27-year-old is charged with fatally shooting Thompson, a UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel last year before fleeing and touching off a manhunt that ended days later with his arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Mangione has become a folk hero for many who say he expressed their rage at the health-care system.

Prosecutors had argued that Mangione committed an act of terrorism to intimidate workers in the health-care industry and cause members of the public to “focus on the greed” of the sector. But Carro sided with defense lawyers, who argued that the facts didn’t support the terrorism allegation.

Luigi Mangione arrives for a pretrial hearing at New York State Supreme Court in New York on Sept. 16.

Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

“There was no evidence presented that defendant’s conscious objective or intent was to intimidate or coerce the employees of United Healthcare,” Carro wrote in an opinion released after the hearing, which cited Mangione’s so-called manifesto. “The defendant’s apparent objective, as stated in his writings, was not to threaten, intimidate, or coerce, but rather, to draw attention to what he perceived as the greed of the insurance industry.”

Mangione, dressed in a prison jumpsuit, waved to supporters after the hearing. His lawyers left the courtroom without commenting.

“We respect the court’s decision and will proceed on the remaining nine counts, including murder in the second degree,” said Danielle Filson, a spokeswoman for Bragg.

‘Cold-Blooded Assassination’

The ruling will likely boost federal prosecutors’ parallel case. US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on April 1 that the US would seek the death penalty against Mangione for committing “a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination.”

The shooting of Thompson last year drew national attention because of the brazen nature of the crime and the national manhunt that followed. Mangione allegedly waited outside a midtown Manhattan hotel before shooting Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealth’s insurance unit, with a 3D-printed ghost gun. UnitedHealth was hosting its investor day at the hotel, where Thompson was slated to speak.

When police arrested him in Altoona, Mangione was carrying a manifesto decrying the health-care industry and a notebook discussing killing a CEO, authorities said.

(Adds quotes from judge’s ruling, starting in fourth paragraph.)

To contact the reporters on this story:
Patricia Hurtado in Federal Court in Manhattan at pathurtado@bloomberg.net;
David Voreacos in New York at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net;
Miles J. Herszenhorn in New York at mherszenhorn@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net

Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou

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