Luigi Mangione will not face death penalty if convicted, judge rules

Luigi Mangione will not face the death penalty if convicted of killing UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson, a federal court has ruled.

US District Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed the federal firearms charges against the 27-year-old that carried the possibility of the death penalty.

But she left in place stalking charges against him that can bring a maximum punishment of life in prison.

Mangione was arrested days after he allegedly shot Thompson as he was walking into a conference on a busy Manhattan street on 4 December 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, including separate state murder charges.

Jury selection in the federal trial is scheduled to begin on 8 September with opening statements due to start on 13 October.

But state prosecutors are seeking to try Mangione as soon as 1 July.

In her ruling, Judge Garnett said two of the four federal charges did not "meet the federal statutory definition of a 'crime of violence' as matter of law".

She noted that her decision was "solely to foreclose the death penalty as an available punishment to be considered by the jury" ultimately responsible for Mangione's verdict.

Garnett also said prosecutors would be allowed to feature evidence from Mangione's seized backpack that he was wearing at the time of his arrest.

Among the items in the backpack were a gun, fake IDs, and a notebook with writings that detailed Mangione's private healthcare system grievances.

Defence attorneys had sought to dismiss that evidence from trial, arguing that authorities obtained it in an illegal search.

Mangione is also facing nine charges in a separate case brought by New York state prosecutors, including second-degree murder.