BREAKING: Judge bars federal prosecutors from seeking death penalty against Luigi Mangione

January 30, 2026

From the Associated Press: Federal prosecutors can’t seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge ruled Friday, foiling the Trump administration’s bid to see him executed for what it called a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed a federal murder charge that had enabled prosecutors to seek capital punishment, finding that it was technically flawed. She wrote that she did so to “foreclose the death penalty as an available punishment to be considered by the jury” as it weighs whether to convict Mangione.

Garnett also dismissed a firearm charge but left in place stalking charges that carry a maximum punishment of life in prison. In order to seek the death penalty, prosecutors needed to show that Mangione killed Thompson while committing another “crime of violence.” Stalking does not fit that definition, Garnett wrote in her opinion, citing case law and legal precedents.

Garnett acknowledged that the decision “may strike the average person — and indeed many lawyers and judges — as tortured and strange, and the result may seem contrary to our intuitions about the criminal law.” But, she said, it reflected her “committed effort to faithfully apply the dictates of the Supreme Court to the charges in this case. The law must the Court’s only concern.”

The report notes that the state charges also carry the possibility of life in prison.

Mangione is accused of killing Thompson, 50, on Dec. 4, 2024, as Thompson walked to a hotel in midtown Manhattan for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference.

Thompson was shot in the back as he walked to the hotel by a masked gunman, as seen on surveillance footage. The words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, in reference to a phrase describing how insurance companies avoid paying claims.

Five days later, Mangione was arrested while sitting at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Investigators said they found the suspected murder weapon and a manifesto in a backpack Mangione had with him.

Last April, Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Mangione. Now Judge Margaret Garnett has taken that off the table.

ABOUT THIS JUDGE: Margaret Garnett, 55, is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She was recommended by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and nominated by Joe Biden in June 2023. Garnett was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in November 2023 in a 49-46 vote.

LAWFARE: The hardcore Democrat judge in the Luigi Mangione murder trial, Judge Margaret Garnett, is desperate to let him off. She’s doing anything to throw the evidence out. pic.twitter.com/rCvGxrrKBJ

— @amuse (@amuse) January 13, 2026

Below is Judge Garnett’s 39-page ruling:

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett’s opinion dismissing two counts against Luigi Mangione, including the death penalty eligible charge, is 39 pages.

Here is a PDF: https://t.co/swmPZalVSV pic.twitter.com/KvZWjjU8jf

— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) January 30, 2026