Courts and Death Penalty

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have confirmed they will not appeal U.S. District Judge Margarett Garnett’s Jan. 30 decision tossing the death‑penalty‑eligible firearm‑murder count against 27‑year‑old Luigi Mangione, accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk on Dec. 4, 2024. In a letter, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said it will accept Garnett’s ruling that the federal 'murder through use of a firearm' statute requires an underlying 'crime of violence' that, under recent Supreme Court precedent, cannot be satisfied by the theory prosecutors advanced. Mangione still faces two federal stalking charges, with jury selection scheduled to begin Sept. 8 and opening statements in October, and he is also awaiting a separate New York state murder trial in June where he could receive life in prison. Surveillance video captured Thompson being shot multiple times from behind outside a Manhattan hotel, with the suspect later seen fleeing on a bicycle, evidence that will likely figure prominently in the state case. The federal decision underscores how the Supreme Court’s narrowing of which offenses qualify as 'crimes of violence' is constraining prosecutors’ ability to seek capital punishment, even in high‑profile killings involving corporate leaders.