A federal judge has barred prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a ruling that narrows the sentencing options in the federal case while the prosecution remains poised to proceed toward trial. The decision came Friday when Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed the federal murder charge that had permitted capital punishment.
Garnett also dismissed a gun charge, but she allowed stalking charges to remain. Those stalking counts, according to the judge’s written ruling, expose Mangione to a maximum punishment of life in prison, leaving prosecutors with significant leverage even without the death penalty.
To seek the death penalty, prosecutors had needed to show that Mangione killed Thompson while committing another “crime of violence.” Garnett ruled that the stalking allegations prosecutors relied on did not qualify under that legal definition, and she cited case law and legal precedents in her opinion.
Garnett wrote that she dismissed the murder charge to “foreclose the death penalty as an available punishment to be considered by the jury” as the court weighs whether Mangione should be convicted. She also acknowledged that the decision “may strike the average person — and indeed many lawyers and judges — as tortured and strange,” but said it reflected her “committed effort to faithfully apply the dictates of the Supreme Court to the charges in this case,” adding that “The law must be the Court’s only concern.”
The ruling addressed other disputes as well. Garnett ruled that federal prosecutors can use evidence collected from Mangione’s backpack during his arrest, including a 9mm handgun and a notebook in which authorities say he described his intent to “wack” an insurance executive. Mangione’s lawyers had sought to exclude those items, arguing the search was illegal because police had not yet obtained a warrant.
At a hearing Friday, Garnett gave prosecutors 30 days to update her on whether they will appeal her death-penalty decision. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, which is prosecuting the federal case, declined to comment. Prosecutors still retained their right to appeal, and the case was described as ready to move toward trial.
Outside court, defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo said Mangione and his defense team were relieved by the “incredible decision.” Jury selection in the federal case is set for Sept. 8, with opening statements and testimony scheduled to begin Oct. 13, while the state trial’s date has not been set.
Thompson, 50, was killed Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a midtown Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Police said surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind, and that words including “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, echoing a phrase used by critics who describe how insurers avoid paying claims.
Mangione, 27, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan. Following through on President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to seek capital punishment, Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors last April to seek the death penalty, making the request the first time the Justice Department sought the death penalty in Trump’s second term.
Garnett, a Biden appointee and former Manhattan federal prosecutor, ruled after oral arguments earlier this month. In Friday’s hearing, Garnett said the state case would be “none of my concern,” and she said she would proceed in the federal case as if it were the only case unless she hears formally from parties in the state case; she added that the federal case will be paused if the government appeals the death-penalty ruling.