Luigi Mangione Won’t Face Death Penalty Despite DOJ’s Best Efforts

Luigi Mangione does not risk the death penalty.

Mangione, who is on trial for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had his federal murder charges dismissed on technical grounds by a federal judge who determined the shooting was not committed simultaneously during another act of violence. Prosecutors argued that stalking met that requirement, but the judge disagreed.

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, a Biden appointee, left in place the stalking charges against Mangione, which would carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Thompson was killed in December 2024 while on his way to an investors conference. Mangione, who has a history of severe back painnoted in an alleged manifest that the United States has “the most expensive health care system in the world” but “ranks 42nd in life expectancy.”

“United [Healthcare] is the [indecipherable] the largest company in the United States by market capitalization, behind Apple, Google and Walmart. He grew and grew, but [h]like our life expectancy? No, the reality is that these [indecipherable] “have simply become too powerful, and they continue to exploit our country for immense profits because the American public has allowed them to get away with it,” he wrote. In fact, the United States ranks even lower in life expectancy, at 60th in the world. It is by far the most expensive.

This is a blow to Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Justice Department, which has made a show to seek the death penalty for Mangione. President Trump even claimed on Fox News that Mangione “shot someone in the back as clearly as you’re looking at me… He shot him right in the middle of the back – instantly dead… It’s a disease. It really needs to be studied and studied.” All Trump is is an allegation, which undermines federal prosecutors’ case.

So much posturing and tough talk, only to have their dreams of capital punishment postponed on a technicality. It looks like the DOJ will have to go back to the drawing board.

Mangione’s lawyers have not yet commented.

This story has been updated.