Judge Tosses Some Charges Against Luigi Mangione In UnitedHealthcare CEO's Death

NEW YORK CITY — A judge has thrown out two terrorism-related charges in the New York state case against Maryland native Luigi Mangione, who is awaiting trial in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Judge Gregory Carro on Tuesday dismissed charges of murder in the first degree as an act of terrorism and murder in the second degree as a crime of terrorism. Mangione is still charged with second-degree murder, but no longer faces the possibility of life without parole.

In a written decision, Carro said that although there is no doubt the killing was not an ordinary street crime, New York law doesn’t consider something terrorism simply because it was motivated by ideology.

“While the defendant 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.

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The 27-year-old Towson native is accused of murdering Thompson in Manhattan this past December before leading police on a five-day manhunt, Patch previously reported. Mangione was also indicted on four federal charges in connection with Thompson's death. He has pleaded not guilty.

In addition to the two New York cases, Mangione has a case in Pennsylvania for possessing an illegal gun and giving a fake ID to police.

Prosecutors issued a statement after the hearing saying, “We respect the Court’s decision and will proceed on the remaining nine counts."

The judge scheduled pretrial hearings in the case for Dec. 1, which is days before Mangione is next due in court in the federal case against him.

Tuesday marked Mangione’s first court appearance in the state case since February, and he wore beige prison clothes, handcuffs and shackles.

Mangione has attracted a cult following as a stand-in for frustrations with the health insurance industry. Supporters of Mangione took up three rows in the courtroom gallery. As was the case at his last hearing, a few dozen supporters, mostly women, showed up to Tuesday's proceedings. Some were dressed in green — the color worn by the Mario Bros. video game character Luigi — as a symbol of solidarity, and one woman sported a “FREE LUIGI” T-shirt.

Mangione is a 2016 graduate of Gilman School in Baltimore, an elite all-boys prep school where he was class valedictorian. Mangione is from an affluent business family, who said he seemed to struggle following a back surgery.

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Family and friends said Mangione lost contact with them in the months leading up to Thompson's shooting, and Mangione's social media accounts reflected a shift from posts on books he read, workout routines and his travels to a person in pain who was unhappy with the healthcare system.

Thomas J. Maronick Jr., a lawyer and radio host who knows several members of the Mangione family, said Luigi Mangione was “just the last person you would suspect” of committing a homicide.

“It is just such a well-respected family and such a prominent family within Baltimore County,” Maronick said.

Catonsville resident Freddie Leatherbury graduated with Mangione from Gilman School. Leatherby told NewsNation in December that those who know Mangione were stunned by the criminal accusations.

Leatherbury said he hadn’t talked to Mangione in recent years, but followed him on social media, and saw no warning signs of potential trouble.

“It doesn’t seem thinkable that this is the same person,” Leatherbury said. “It just goes so against everything I knew about Luigi. None of us can come up with any leads or any history of inclination to do anything.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.