A federal judge in New York has agreed to dismiss federal murder charges against Luigi Mangione. This takes the potential death penalty off the table.
Lawyers for accused assassin Luigi Mangione had continued to bolster their legal arguments to have the most serious charges against him thrown out.
Judge Margaret Garnett conceded to some “absurdity” in her decision.
“The Court would be remiss not to note at the outset the apparent absurdity of the inquiry,” she wrote. “The Defendant is charged with selecting a stranger to be killed based on his employment; carefully planning the killing, including identifying where and when the selected victim would be most vulnerable; traveling across multiple states to carry out that killing; and then gunning the victim down on a public street in midtown Manhattan, using a handgun equipped with a silencer. No one could seriously question that this is violent criminal conduct.”
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The ruling was one of two that came shortly before the 27-year-old was due back in court Friday morning for a status conference.
A separate motion to suppress evidence alleging police violated Mangione’s constitutional rights with the search of his backpack was denied. According to investigators, the suspected murder weapon and a manifesto were in the bag.
The defendant arrived around 11:10 a.m. in a tan jail jumpsuit and without handcuffs. The hearing kicked off a few minutes later.
Prosecutors said they were not yet ready to make a decision on whether they planned to appeal the judge’s decision. Much of the rest of the hearing focused on scheduling and questions about jury selection.
Read the judge’s order:
Although oral arguments already took place, the defense aggressively argued in subsequent filings that prosecutors failed to allege an underlying “crime of violence” necessary for the top charge of murder through use of a firearm. That was the only charge Mangione faced that carried the potential death penalty.
Prosecutors countered in an opposition filing that the defense is relying on irrelevant precedent, but the judge disagreed.
In order to charge Mangione with the federal charge of murder through use of a firearm, prosecutors need an underlying crime of violence. They have alleged that crime to be stalking. However, according to legal analysts, if stalking can be done without violence, even if it wasn’t in the case alleged, the charge could fall apart.
Garnett wrote that she was bound by Supreme Court precedent.
“Over the course of the last two decades or so, the Supreme Court has embarked upon a legal journey, explained herein, that now requires lower courts to engage in an analysis totally divorced from the conduct at issue and centered on the hypothetically least serious conduct that the charged crime could possibly cover,” she wrote.
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Mangione is accused of stalking UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson before shooting him in the back outside a New York City hotel on the morning of a planned business conference.
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“It’s like a series of dominos — the only way that the federal government can get to a death penalty charge in their case is if the murder was committed during the course of a violent felony,” Joshua Ritter, a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney, previously told Fox News Digital. “And the reason that they need that is because they need what’s called a federal hook to get them federal jurisdiction.”
Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two from Minnesota, had come to the Big Apple to meet with Wall Street investors.
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Surveillance cameras recorded the slaying. Video shows Thompson walking down the sidewalk outside the hotel when a man approaches from behind and opens fire.
Thompson suffered multiple gunshot wounds and collapsed to the ground. The gunman fled and was later spotted making his way uptown on a bicycle. There was at least one eyewitness, who appeared to be unharmed.
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Police arrested Mangione five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where customers and staff said they recognized him from a wanted poster released in connection with Thompson’s murder.
Police said they found the suspected murder weapon and handwritten notes that were critical of the health insurance industry and may indicate Mangione’s alleged planning and a motive.
Jury selection is scheduled for Sept. 8, with a trial expected to kick off on Oct. 13.
Separately, Manhattan prosecutors have requested a July 1 start date for Mangione’s state trial, which his lawyers have objected to as “unrealistic.”
In a letter to New York Judge Gregory Carro Wednesday, Assistant Manhattan DA Joel Seidemann wrote that the state has an interest, protected by federal law, in taking Mangione to trial first.
“That case is none of my concern,” Judge Garnett told the parties in court Firday.
This is a breaking news story. Stick with Fox News Digital for updates.
