Mangione First-Degree Murder Charge in NY Case Is Dismissed (3)

A New York state judge dismissed first-degree murder charges against Luigi Mangione but allowed a lesser murder count to go to trial, ruling that prosecutors failed to show that he committed the crime as an act of terrorism.

Judge Gregory Carro ruled at a brief hearing Tuesday that prosecutors could still pursue a second-degree murder charge and eight other counts against Mangione, who is accused of gunning down health-care executive Brian Thompson. The decision means that he won’t face the prospect of mandatory life in prison without parole.

Mangione also faces federal murder charges in a case in which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. The ruling is a major setback for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who had sought to show that state prosecutors could take a tough stance in the high-profile case.

The 27-year-old is charged with fatally shooting Thompson, a UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel last year before fleeing and touching off a manhunt that ended days later with his arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Mangione, who has pleaded not guilty, has become a folk hero for many who say he expressed their rage at the health-care system.

Prosecutors had argued that Mangione committed an act of terrorism to intimidate workers in the health-care industry and cause members of the public to “focus on the greed” of the sector. But Carro sided with defense lawyers, who argued that the facts didn’t support the terrorism allegation.

Luigi Mangione arrives for a pretrial hearing at New York State Supreme Court in New York on Sept. 16.

Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

“There was no evidence presented that defendant’s conscious objective or intent was to intimidate or coerce the employees of United Healthcare,” Carro wrote in an opinion released after the hearing, which cited Mangione’s so-called manifesto recovered by police. “The defendant’s 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.”

Mangione, dressed in a beige prison jumpsuit, handcuffed and wearing shackles around his ankles, nodded to supporters after the hearing.

“It’s a great day, the first win of many,” Marc Agnifilo, one of his lawyers, said after the hearing.

“We respect the court’s decision and will proceed on the remaining nine counts, including murder in the second degree,” said Danielle Filson, a spokeswoman for Bragg.

Another Mangione lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, had argued that the two terrorism-related murder charges should be dismissed because of questions about her client’s intent. She also said that authorities were responsible for stoking the fear by “selectively” releasing information about the case.

“Law enforcement is responsible for causing the very public intimidation or coercion they are now trying to attribute to Mr. Mangione,” she wrote in a filing. The two Agnifilos are married.

‘Murder in the Subway’

Carro agreed with the defense, saying that “every murder has the potential to induce some degree of fear.”

“A random murder in the subway will cause riders to feel fearful about riding the subway,” he said in his ruling. “That fails to establish that this was the defendant’s intent, or that the conduct fits within the statutory definition of terrorism.”

Mangione still faces a state count of second-degree murder, which carries a potential 25-years-to-life prison term. While he didn’t set a trial date, Carro scheduled a Dec. 1 hearing on evidence that Mangione’s lawyers said should be suppressed. It includes handwritten notes and bullets that prosecutors said were engraved with messages including “delay” and “depose.”

The judge rejected a defense request to delay the state case until after a federal trial concludes. His lawyers say that that Mangione’s constitutional rights are being violated by having to fight state charges while also battling a federal death penalty case. Carro said the request was “premature.”

‘Cold-Blooded Assassination’

The ruling will likely boost federal prosecutors’ parallel case. US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced earlier this year that the US would seek the death penalty against Mangione for committing “a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination.”

The shooting of Thompson last year drew national attention because of the brazen nature of the crime and the national manhunt that followed. Mangione allegedly waited outside a midtown Manhattan hotel before shooting Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealth’s insurance unit, with a 3D-printed ghost gun. UnitedHealth was hosting its investor day at the hotel, where Thompson was slated to speak.

When police arrested him in Altoona, Mangione was carrying what prosecutors called a “manifesto” decrying the health-care industry and a notebook discussing killing a CEO.

Abril Rios, 26, sat in the back of the courtroom with roughly a dozen other Mangione supporters, many of whom were wearing green. As he was escorted out after the hearing, Rios waved toward Mangione.

“We wanted to cheer him up a little,” Rios said. “It’s good to see him happy and smiling.”

(Updates with arguments by Mangione’s lawyers starting in ninth paragraph.)

To contact the reporters on this story:
Patricia Hurtado in Federal Court in Manhattan at pathurtado@bloomberg.net;
David Voreacos in New York at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net;
Miles J. Herszenhorn in New York at mherszenhorn@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net

Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou

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