Man accused of killing Brian Thompson will not face state terrorism-related murder charges but others will stand
Luigi Mangione scored a major legal victory on Tuesday as a judge dismissed the two top state charges against him: first-degree murder and second-degree murder, both of which prosecutors had argued were terrorism crimes.
Mangione still faces an additional second-degree murder charge, as well as a federal murder charge, in the killing of United HealthCare executive Brian Thompson last December.
The judge overseeing Mangione’s state criminal case, Gregory Carro, said “the evidence put forth was legally insufficient” for the two terrorism-related charges, in a written decision that was posted during a 15-minute proceeding in Manhattan court on Tuesday.
“Counts one and two, charging [the] defendant with murder in the first degree (in furtherance of an act of terrorism) and murder in the second degree as a crime of terrorism, are dismissed as legally insufficient,” Carro wrote. “The people presented legally sufficient evidence of all other counts, including murder in the second degree (intentional).”
