NEW YORK — The New York judge overseeing the state case against Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year, threw out two terrorism charges on Tuesday in a significant win for the defense.
Mangione appeared in court for the first time in five months for the brief hearing. The judge dismissed the two terrorism charges as legally insufficient, but allowed the remaining nine charges to remain — including a count of second-degree murder.
The state case is one of three that Mangione and his legal team are juggling since he was detained by police at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in December. He has also been charged with murder at the federal level ― in what Attorney General Pam Bondi has said will be a death penalty case ― and on several lesser state charges in Pennsylvania.
Mangione was led into the courtroom in a khaki jumpsuit and shackles. He was generally expressionless, though he appeared to direct a half-smile toward the rows of his supporters in the audience.
Dozens of supporters — primarily young women — turned out to wait in line for a chance at seeing Mangione in the courtroom. Some wore T-shirts expressing solidarity with the accused, while others wore green, the color of the Luigi character in the Mario Bros video game. A few of the women told reporters they spent some 30 hours queuing in front of the courthouse in order to guarantee their seat.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is currently being held without bail at a federal facility in Brooklyn. The next hearing in his state case was set for Dec. 1.
His legal team has argued that the federal trial should proceed first, even though state prosecutors were first to bring their murder charges, as the stakes are highest in the capital case.
But Judge Gregory Carro denied their request to delay the state proceedings on Tuesday.
Carro also rejected the defense’s argument that it is unconstitutional for Mangione to be charged for the same murder at both the state and federal level, saying it was too soon to determine whether the two trials would amount to double jeopardy. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has argued that the cases may co-exist because they rest on different legal theories.
Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and current president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, said that a conviction in the state case could hurt Mangione’s ability to defend himself against the death penalty, if he had to do so afterward.
The primary job of Mangione’s legal team, Rahmani said, “is to keep their client alive.”
The New York hearing comes as a wave of targeted assassinations from Minnesota to Utah have rocked the country in recent months.
Federal prosecutors have already begun to put forth an argument that Mangione inspired other gunmen to action, writing in court documents last month that the 27-year-old “hoped to normalize the use of violence to achieve ideological or political objectives.”
The prosecutors drew parallels between the CEO killing and a shooting that occurred at a Manhattan office building in July by a man who allegedly blamed his health problems on the National Football League. (The filing was made before right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed in Utah last week.)
Mangione is accused of planning and carrying out the Thompson murder to make a statement about the flaws in the American health care system.
Many of his supporters shared similar views on health care in the United States. Some even traveled from other states to try to attend the hearing.
“Health care shouldn’t be for profit. I’ve dealt with insurance in the past — I actually almost had the same surgery Luigi had, and I’m really glad I didn’t have it. I know it’s not simple, but it is as simple as health care shouldn’t be for profit,” a woman who identified herself as Nicole told HuffPost. Mangione reportedly had back surgery to address severe pain caused by a vertebra pressing on the one beneath it.
Nicole said critics who complain that Mangione’s supporters are glorifying murder were “out of touch.”
Another woman, named Brie, said she believed corporate greed was keeping Americans from the type of universal health care enjoyed by other wealthy nations.
One of the women who showed up the earliest was overheard saying she thought Carro’s decision to toss the two weightiest charges was a “step in the right direction.”
Yet another said that it had been “sobering” to see Mangione in person.
“You really see the paleness, the cracks, the dehydration,” she said.
Asked to compare Mangione’s alleged crime with the Kirk shooting, the woman said she considered them to be wholly separate incidents. She said that, as a member of Gen Z, she sees her peers generally suffer from a lack of opportunities in the U.S.
“It’s not shocking to me that he has a lot of support, especially among Gen Z,” said the woman, who was wearing a “Free Luigi” T-shirt.
Thompson’s killing coincided with an annual UnitedHealthcare investors’ conference, which Mangione allegedly referred to as “the annual parasitic bean-counter convention” in a journal entry.
Security camera footage captured the health care executive walking outside a midtown Manhattan hotel around daybreak when a masked figure appeared behind him, raised a gun and fired several times, fatally injuring Thompson. The firearm appeared to malfunction at multiple points, requiring the shooter to troubleshoot in real time.
The individual on security footage then fled on a bicycle, with investigators alleging he took a path that led him through Central Park and eventually out of the city.
Police say they found evidence tying Mangione to the murder when they detained him at the McDonald’s. The contents of his backpack allegedly included a firearm that resembled the one used in the shooting, a fake ID used at a Manhattan hostel shortly before the shooting, and a notebook that contained writings apparently referencing the act.
Mangione’s attorneys have raised several issues with the way his arrest was handled, including whether he was appropriately informed of his rights. They are expected to try to chip away at the prosecution’s evidence with the goal of severely limiting what can be shown to the jury at an actual trial.
In the New York case specifically, they argue that prosecutors violated federal health care information protections in the way they obtained Mangione’s medical files. His medical history has been a topic of speculation as to his motive.
Mangione’s next federal hearing is currently set for Dec. 5.