Luigi Mangione will not be facing the death penalty as a judge in the United States has dropped murder and weapons charges against him in the case of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s murder, dealing a significant setback to federal prosecutors.

In Manhattan, US District Judge Margaret Garnett cited Supreme Court precedents that compelled her to dismiss the murder charge. She explained that the charge was legally inconsistent with the stalking charges Mangione still confronts, acknowledging that this decision might leave the general public puzzled.

Although Mangione, aged 27, has avoided the death penalty, he could still be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole if found guilty of the stalking charges.

At a routine court session on Friday, federal prosecutor Dominic Gentile informed Judge Garnett that the government has yet to decide on pursuing an appeal.

Brian Thompson, who was at the helm of UnitedHealth Group’s health insurance division, was tragically shot and killed on December 4, 2024, outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

Mangione has maintained his innocence, entering a not guilty plea to all charges related to Thompson’s death. He has remained in custody since being apprehended in Pennsylvania five days after the incident.

While public officials widely condemned Thompson’s killing, Mangione became a folk hero of sorts to some who decry high costs for medical care and health insurer practices.

Garnett has scheduled jury selection in the case to begin in September, with the evidence phase of trial beginning 12 October.

Mangione has also pleaded not guilty to separate murder, weapons and forgery charges in a New York state court in Manhattan.

No trial date in that case has been set.

Prosecutors in that case suffered their ‌own setback in September, when the judge dismissed two terrorism-related counts against Mangione.

In a 39-page decision, Garnett said federal prosecutors could pursue their murder and weapons charges only if the stalking charges qualified as “crimes of violence”.

She said the charges did not qualify because any use of force could be achieved through ‍reckless, as opposed to intentional, conduct.

The judge said prosecutors and Mangione agreed that this fell short of the kind of “force” the Supreme Court required to make out a crime of violence.

Garnett acknowledged the “apparent absurdity” of the legal landscape, saying no one would seriously question that Mangione’s alleged conduct — crossing state lines to kill a specific healthcare executive with a handgun equipped with a silencer — was violent criminal conduct.

She said her analysis may strike ordinary people, and many lawyers and judges, as “tortured and strange” but it “represents the court’s committed effort to faithfully apply the dictates of the Supreme Court to the charges in this case. The law must be the court’s only concern”.

For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.