Judge dismisses terrorism counts against Mangione
By: N'dea Yancey-Bragg
USA Today
..... Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brain Thompson, briefly appeared on September 16 [2025] at Manhattan courthouse, where a judge swiftly dismissed two of the terrorism-related state charges against him.
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Mangione, 27, faced nearly a dozen charges in New York state court, where he is accused of shooting Thompson, 50, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel on December 4, 2024. New York Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro dismissed the charge of first-degree murder in furnace of terrorism and murder in the second degree as a crime of terrorism shortly after Mangione was led into the lower Manhattan courtroom handcuffed and with shackles on his feet. Mangione remaining charged with murder in the second degree.
..... Mangione's defense team has asked Carro to dismiss the state's "legally and factually unfounded" Terrorism-related charges. Prosecutors argued in court filings hat Manginone's alleged writings and methodical planning of the attack justified the terrorism-related charges.
..... Carro wrote in his decision that although Thompson's slaying is no ordinary "street crime," a murder commuted for ideological reasons does not necessarily fit within the state's definition of terrorism.
..... "While the defend net was clearly expressing an animus toward UHC, and the health care industry generally, it does not follow that his goal was to 'intimidate and coerce a civilian population,' and indeed, there was no evidence presented of such a goal," Carro wrote.
..... The Manhattan District Attorney's Office said in a statement to USA Today after the hearing that prosecutors "respect the Court's decision and will proceed in the remaining nine counts, including Murder in the Second Degree."
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Mangione who faces additional charges in Pennsylvania and in federal court, pleaded not guilty to the New York state charges in December. [2024]
..... Carro scheduled Mangione's next hearing for December 1, [2025] days before he is expected to appear in federal court. officials previously said the sate case is expected to go to trial before the federal case, but Mangione's defense team argued in a June [2025] court filing that doing so would violate his rights, U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett has said Mangione's federal trail will not start until 2026.
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Carro denied the defense's request to temporarily halt the state proceedings.
..... "This court is not persuaded that proceeding to trail in the state case first will cause the defendant severe prejudice, and the defendant's claim that any state trial testimony will prejudice his federal trial is merely speculative," Carro wrote.
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Mangione's lawyers have also asked the judge for additional time to determine if they will introduce psychiatric evidence as part of their defense, despite having been given an August 25 [2025] deadline to do so.
..... Contributing: Christopher Cann, Jonathan Limehouse, Chris Kenning and Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA Today; Reuters