{"id":161139,"date":"2025-09-16T15:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T15:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/161139\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T15:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T15:47:10","slug":"luigi-mangione-top-terrorism-charges-thrown-out-by-judge-in-state-case-in-massive-blow-to-da","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/161139\/","title":{"rendered":"Luigi Mangione top terrorism charges thrown out by judge in state case in massive blow to DA"},"content":{"rendered":"

A judge has thrown out the top counts in\u00a0Luigi Mangione\u2019s state murder case<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 rejecting claims that the accused killer can be charged as a terrorist \u2014 in a huge blow to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

In a ruling released Tuesday, Judge Gregory Carro tossed charges of murder in the first degree as an act of terrorism and murder in the second degree\u00a0as a crime of terrorism\u00a0against the 27-year-old Ivy League grad.<\/p>\n

The judge did keep alive Mangione\u2019s other second-degree murder charge\u00a0for allegedly executing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in cold blood outside the health care company\u2019s investor conference on Dec. 4, 2024.<\/p>\n

Luigi Mangione appears in court Tuesday morning over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Steven Hirsch<\/p>\n

Luigi Mangione arriving in court on Tuesday, September 16, 2025. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Luigi Mangione in court on Tuesday, September 16, 2025. Steven Hirsch<\/p>\n

\u201cThe People presented sufficient evidence that the defendant murdered Brian Thompson in a premeditated and calculated execution. That does not mean, however, that the defendant did so with terroristic intent,\u201d Carro wrote in his decision.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0ruling\u00a0means that Mangione still faces 25 years to life in the state case, but not the 25 years to life without the possibility of parole that he had been facing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Luigi Mangione is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Mangione\u00a0also\u00a0still\u00a0faces separate federal charges\u00a0<\/a>that carry a possible death penalty.<\/p>\n

Carro announced the bombshell ruling during a 15-minute hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court that Mangione attended wearing a tan prison outfit over a maroon shirt.<\/p>\n

A Luigi Mangione supporter in court on Tuesday, September 16, 2025. REUTERS<\/p>\n

As he was led out of the room in handcuffs, the scion of a wealthy Baltimore family raised his eyebrows while looking toward two dozen of his supporters, mostly young women, seated in the back of the courtroom gallery.<\/p>\n

Carro\u2019s tossing of the top charges comes after some legal experts told The Post in December that it was a \u201creach\u201d to charge Mangione as a terrorist.<\/p>\n

Luigi Mangione writes notes in court on Tuesday, September 16, 2025. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was \u201cwildly overcharging\u201d Mangione in an attempt to make a \u201cgreat headline,\u201d veteran defense attorney Ron Kuby said at the time.<\/p>\n

Murder in the first degree is\u00a0typically charged in cases involving victims who are law enforcement members or possible witnesses to crimes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Luigi Mangione still faces federal charges in the case. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

Bragg\u2019s office had argued that Mangione should be considered a terrorist because he meant to kill Thompson to\u00a0\u201cintimidate or coerce a civilian population\u201d\u00a0\u2014 a claim that the judge rejected Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Supporters stand in solidarity with Luigi Mangione outside the courthouse on Tuesday, September 16, 2025. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant\u2019s 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,\u201d Carro wrote.<\/p>\n

Supporters hold signs for Luigi Mangione outside a Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday, September 16, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The University of Pennsylvania\u00a0grad is due back in court on the state case on Dec. 1.<\/p>\n

Surveillance footage outside the Midtown Hilton Hotel showing Brian Thompson being shot. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n

\u00a0A DA\u2019s Office spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday,\u00a0\u201cWe respect the Court\u2019s decision and will proceed on the remaining nine counts,\u00a0including Murder in the Second Degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mangione is also due back in court on Dec. 5 in the federal case, in which US Attorney Pam Bondi has announced plans to take the rare step of asking for the death penalty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A judge has thrown out the top counts in\u00a0Luigi Mangione\u2019s state murder case\u00a0\u2014 rejecting claims that the accused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,2858,3071,451,68464,38137,3,452,453,58971,194],"class_list":{"0":"post-161139","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-court","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-luigi-mangione","14":"tag-murders","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topstories","18":"tag-unitedhealth","19":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}