Accused assassin Luigi Mangione got some great news today courtesy of a New York judge who dropped some of the more serious charges against him.
Mangione is charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare (UHC) CEO Brian Thompson, who was shot and killed on a Manhattan sidewalk as he was walking to an early morning investor’s meeting on December 4, 2024. Security footage of the killing shows a masked man draw a handgun and shoot Thompson in the back at point-blank range.
Today, judge Gregory Carro dropped the terrorism charges against Mangione and kept the second-degree murder charge and left other charges intact. In his ruling, he rejected the prosecution’s theory that the murder of Thompson was “intended to evoke terror.”
With the second-degree murder charge in place, prosecutors must prove that Mangione intended to kill Thompson, but they don’t have to prove terroristic intent. Mangione is now spared the potential for a mandatory life sentence without parole.
Days after the murder, Mangione, a child of privilege, was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania. On December 8, 2024, he was charged in both Pennsylvania and in New York with related crimes. In Blair County, Pennsylvania, Mangione was charged with carrying a gun without a license, forgery, and falsely identifying himself to authorities. In New York, he was charged with second degree murder.
On December 17, a grand jury in New York indicted Mangione on upgraded charges that included first-degree murder under New York law “in furtherance of an act of terrorism” and second-degree murder as a “crime of terrorism.”
Prosecutors alleged that the murder was premeditated and that, based on Mangione’s writings and apparent motive, the shooting was not an isolated act of violence. Rather, they said, it served a larger ideological purpose. Terrorism‐related murder charges carry more severe penalties, such as a life sentence without parole.
The Associated Press, in all of its journalistic objectivity, reported on today’s most recent development with all the detachment of the president of the Taylor Swift fan club after her favorite sequined celebrity walks by. The newswire graciously described the accused killer as “a cause célèbre for people upset with the health insurance industry.” The report then took care to note that Mangione “appeared in good spirits and raised his eyebrows at supporters as police officers led him out of the brief hearing after Carro issued his ruling.”
In his written decision, Judge Carro said the killing wasn’t motivated by ideology, “While the defendant was clearly expressing an animus toward UHC, and the health care industry generally, it does not follow that his goal was to ‘intimidate and coerce a civilian population,’ and indeed, there was no evidence presented of such a goal.”
In his decision, Judge Carro said the evidence presented was insufficient in demonstrating that Mangione had tried to sway government policy through intimidation and coercion, one of the tests for terrorism-related charges.
As for the second-degree murder charge, Carro decided there was enough evidence that Mangione “murdered Brian Thompson in a premeditated and calculated execution.” A conviction could lead to a sentence of 15 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Judge Gregory Carro was appointed to the criminal court bench in 1998 by then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani. It’s no surprise, then, that Judge Carro has earned a reputation for being tough on crime.
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