{"id":117478,"date":"2026-01-30T15:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T15:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/117478\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T15:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T15:44:08","slug":"judge-bars-feds-from-seeking-death-penalty-against-mangione","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/117478\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge bars feds from seeking death penalty against Mangione"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal prosecutors can\u2019t seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge ruled Friday, foiling the Trump administration\u2019s bid to see him executed for what it called a \u201cpremeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed a federal murder charge against Mangione, finding that it was technically flawed. Garnett left in place stalking charges that carry a maximum punishment of life in prison.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors can\u2019t seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge ruled Friday
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U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed a federal murder charge against Mangione, finding that it was technically flawed
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Mangione, 27, pleaded not guilty to federal and state murder charges. The state charges also carry the possibility of life in prison<\/p>\n

Mangione, 27, pleaded not guilty to federal and state murder charges. The state charges also carry the possibility of life in prison.<\/p>\n

Jury selection in the federal case is scheduled to begin Sept. 8. The state trial hasn\u2019t been scheduled yet. On Wednesday, the Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office sent a letter urging the judge in that case to set a July 1 trial date.<\/p>\n

Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a midtown Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group\u2019s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say \u201cdelay,\u201d \u201cdeny\u201d and \u201cdepose\u201d were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.<\/p>\n

Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family,\u00a0was arrested five days later<\/a>\u00a0at a McDonald\u2019s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.<\/p>\n

Following through on\u00a0Trump\u2019s campaign promise<\/a>\u00a0to vigorously pursue capital punishment, Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors last April to seek the death penalty against Mangione.<\/p>\n

It was the first time the Justice Department was seeking to bring the death penalty in President Donald Trump\u2019s second term. He returned to office a year ago with a vow to resume federal executions after they were halted\u00a0under his predecessor, President Joe Biden.<\/a><\/p>\n

Garnett, a Biden appointee, ruled after a flurry of court filings in the prosecution and defense in recent months. She held oral arguments on the matter earlier this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federal prosecutors can\u2019t seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[10015,387,25,118,303,75,84,83,9,24,12,63,308,27],"class_list":["post-117478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-app-crime","tag-app-public-safety","tag-app-top-stories","tag-associated-press","tag-crime","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-public-safety","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}