new york – A judge on Tuesday dismissed terrorist charges against Luigi Mangion in the New York case regarding the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, but he maintained the state's second-degree murder charges against him.
In a written decision, Judge Gregory Caro said that while there is no doubt that murder is not a normal street crime, New York law does not consider terrorism simply because it was motivated by ideology.
“The defendant clearly expressed his animus towards the UHC, but the healthcare industry generally does not continue with that his goal was to “blackmail and force civilians.” In fact, no evidence of such a goal has been presented,” Karo wrote.
Luigi Mangion will be escorted to Manhattan Court in New York on Tuesday, September 16th, 2025.
AP Photo/Seth Wenig
The judge had scheduled a pretrial hearing in the December 1st case. This is the next few days before Mangion was in the courtroom in a federal case against him.
It was Mangion's first court appearance in a state case since February, where he was wearing beige prison clothes, handcuffs and bondage. The 27-year-old Ivy League alumnus attracted cult following as a substitute for his dissatisfaction with the health insurance industry. Dozens of his supporters appeared at his final hearing, with many wearing the green color of Luigi's video game characters as a symbol of solidarity. His April arrest in a federal case and Tuesday's hearing in state court caused similar pours.
On Tuesday, one fan in the courtroom wore a shirt saying “Free Luigi.” Outside, some supporters gathered across the street from the court cheered and applauded as news of the dropped terrorist charges spread.
Mangion previously pleaded not guilty to multiple numbers of murders, including murder, on December 4, 2024. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shot Thompson from behind when he arrived for an investor meeting in Hilton Midtown, New York. Police say “delay,” “deny,” and “retirement” were scribbled with ammunition, mimicking commonly used phrases to explain how insurance companies avoid paying claims.
Mangion was arrested five days after being spotted eating breakfast at McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (370 km) west of New York City. Since then he has been held in the same Brooklyn federal prison where Sean “Diddy” Combs is trapped.
Mangion's lawyers argued that federal death penalty prosecution, alongside the New York case, amounted to double risk. However, Judge Gregory Caro refused to discuss the argument, saying it was too early to make such a decision.
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office argued that there is no double risk issue as none of the Mangion cases have been tried and therefore state and federal prosecutors include different legal theories.
Mangion's lawyers say the duel cases have created a “legal quagmire” in which they “along with defending them legally and logistically.”
The state's accusations allege Mangion “wanted to blackmail or force civilians,” meaning that he wanted insurance employees and investors. The federal complaint alleges that Mangion stole Thompson and does not involve any terrorism allegations.
Attorney General Pam Bondy announced in April that he had ordered federal prosecutors to seek death penalty for “political violence” and “deliberate, cold-blooded assassinations that shocked America.”
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has extensively cited Manhattan's handwritten diary in a court application seeking to uphold his state murder charge. They highlighted his desire to kill the insurance Hongcho and his admiration for Ted Kaczynsky, the late terrorist known as Unabomber.
In his book, the prosecutor meditated on Mangion's rebellion against the “fatal and greedy health insurance cartel,” and said killing industry executives “telling the greedy asshole that came.” They also cited a confession that he wrote “to the federal government.”
Mangion's “intentions were evident from his actions, but his writings help to make those intents explicit,” the prosecutor said in his June application. The books they sometimes described as a manifesto “convey a clear message that the murder of Brian Thompson was intended to bring about revolutionary change in the healthcare industry.”
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