What’s Next for Luigi Mangione: New York Brief

Luigi Mangione notched a victory Tuesday when a Manhattan state court judge tossed a terrorism charge against him, but the 27-year-old defendant has a long road ahead.

Mangione, accused of murdering UnitedHealth Group executive Brian Thompson, is no longer facing life without the possibility of parole, the maximum penalty on the terrorism charge. But he still faces life, with the possibility of a parole, on a state murder charge.

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Why prosecutors lost on a key issue: New York created the terrorism law after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 to prosecute people who murdered with the intent to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population” or influence government policy through violence.

While Mangione was allegedly expressing animus toward the health-care industry, there isn’t evidence that he sought to terrorize the public, Judge Gregory Carro wrote.

And while the government presented evidence showing Mangione sought to “spread a message” about health-care, “there was no evidence presented that defendant made any demands of government or sought any particular governmental policy change,” Carro said. Read More

District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office signaled it won’t appeal the ruling: “We respect the court’s decision and will proceed on the remaining nine counts.”

What outside attorneys think: The prosecution’s terrorism charge “seemed to be an effort to stretch the definition of terrorism beyond all bounds,” Mintz & Gold defense attorney Roger Stavis, who isn’t involved in the Mangione case, told me. Stavis, an ex-prosecutor, represented a defendant in the 1995 “Blind Sheik” terrorism trial where the government alleged a failed conspiracy to blow up New York City landmarks.

“There was a famous Supreme Court case where Justice Stewart was ruminating on the definition of obscenity. He famously said, ‘I know it when I see it.’ I think that phrase is apt when it comes to terrorism,” he said.

Jessica Horani, a public defender in Manhattan who isn’t involved in the Mangione case, told me the ruling shows Carro is “careful with an eye towards the law, but not cautious in the sense of being worried about media blowback.”

Next up in state court: Mangione will appear at December hearings the judge set on whether evidence and statements were lawfully obtained. Mangione has challenged law-enforcement tactics. The prosecution’s said the evidence was properly gathered.

The judge also dealt a setback to Mangione on Tuesday by saying he won’t put the state proceedings on pause to let the feds go first, as the defense had sought. Mangione’s potentially facing execution in the federal case. His “claim that any state trial testimony will prejudice his federal trial is merely speculative,” the judge wrote.

Carro also gave Mangione two weeks to file arguments against immediately notifying prosecutors of whether he plans to use an insanity defense. Bragg has said Mangione is past the deadline for doing so.

Next up in federal court: The Justice Department has said it’s seeking the death penalty. Mangione’s court papers arguing that his execution would be unconstitutional are due Friday.

Mangione is not facing a terrorism charge in federal court. But federal prosecutors, like Bragg, have said Mangione sought to inspire others to violence — citing Manhattan mass shooter Shane Tamura — and suggested that’s one of the reasons they’re seeking the death penalty.

Still, Carro’s decision in a state court Tuesday will likely “have no impact on the federal litigation,” Stavis said.

They Said It

“The thing that gets to me is every time I listen to a lawyer-trained representative saying we should criminalize free speech in some way, I think to myself that law school has failed.”

—US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in a conversation at New York Law School on Tuesday. Her remarks came one day after US Attorney General Pam Bondi said on the “Katie Miller Podcast” that law enforcement would “target” people who are “targeting anyone with hate speech.” Read More

By the Way...

• New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating Abrams Fensterman over its role in helping nursing homes collect unpaid bills. The inquiry centers on whether the firm, where Mayor Eric Adams’ reelection campaign chairman Frank Carone is of counsel, violated debt collection and consumer protection laws. (Politico)
  
• Long Island and upstate New York jails are holding people on behalf of ICE at a nearly sixfold increase over last year. (NY Focus)
  
• A 30-year-old e-commerce growth consultant has amassed a 50,000-follower TikTok following for calling out New York pedestrians who walk too slowly. (New York Times)

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