A judge in New York dismissed terrorism charges against Luigi Mangione in the case regarding the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, although the second-degree murder charges still stand against the Ivy League alumnus.

Mangione’s legal team contended that the New York proceedings and the concurrent federal death penalty case constituted double jeopardy. However, Judge Gregory Carro dismissed this claim, indicating that a decision on double jeopardy was premature.

This marks Mangione’s first state court appearance since February. The 27-year-old, a graduate of an Ivy League school, has garnered a devoted following as a figurehead for dissatisfaction with the health insurance sector. Dozens of his supporters attended his previous hearing, many dressed in the colors associated with the video game character Luigi, in support. A comparable response was seen at his federal case arraignment in April.

Judge Carro, in his written judgment, noted that although the killing wasn’t an ordinary street crime, New York law doesn’t classify an act as terrorism solely because it is ideologically driven.

“While the defendant was undoubtedly expressing hostility towards UHC and the broader health care industry, it does not automatically imply that his intention was to ‘intimidate and coerce a civilian population,’ and indeed, no such intent was evidenced,” Carro expressed.

Carro scheduled pretrial hearings in the case for Dec. 1, which is days before Mangione is next due in court in the federal case against him.

Mangione pleaded not guilty to several murder charges, including murder as an act of terrorism, for the December 4, 2024, incident. Surveillance captured an armed assailant with a mask fatally shooting Thompson from behind as he arrived at a New York Hilton Midtown investor meeting. Police reported that the words “delay,” “deny,” and “depose” were discovered inscribed on the bullets, echoing a phrase often used to criticize how insurers evade claim payouts.

Mangione was arrested five days later after he was spotted eating breakfast at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City. Since then, he has been held at the same Brooklyn federal jail where Sean “Diddy” Combs is locked up.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office contends that there are no double jeopardy issues because neither of Mangione’s cases has gone to trial and because the state and federal prosecutions involve different legal theories.

Mangione’s lawyers say the dueling cases have created a “legal quagmire” that makes it “legally and logistically impossible to defend against them simultaneously.”

The state charges, which carry a maximum of life in prison, allege that Mangione wanted to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population,” that is, insurance employees and investors. The federal charges allege that Mangione stalked Thompson and do not involve terrorism allegations.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in April that she was directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for “an act of political violence” and a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

The Manhattan district attorney’s office quoted extensively from Mangione’s handwritten diary in a court filing seeking to uphold his state murder charges. They highlighted his desire to kill an insurance honcho and his praise for Ted Kaczynski, the late terrorist known as the Unabomber.

In the writings, prosecutors said, Mangione mused about rebelling against “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel” and said killing an industry executive “conveys a greedy bastard that had it coming.” They also cited a confession they say he penned “To the feds,” in which he wrote that “it had to be done.”

Mangione’s “intentions were obvious from his acts, but his writings serve to make those intentions explicit,” prosecutors said in the June filing. The writings, which they sometimes described as a manifesto, “convey one clear message: that the murder of Brian Thompson was intended to bring about revolutionary change to the healthcare industry.”