A New York federal judge has dismissed murder and weapons charges against Luigi M., accused of killing UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson, ruling that prosecutors cannot pursue those counts under federal law.
The decision has stripped prosecutors of the ability to seek the death penalty in the federal case, while leaving M. facing separate state charges.
Who has issued the ruling?
US District Judge Margaret M. Garnett issued the decision on Friday in federal court in Manhattan.
Garnett has said the federal murder and weapons charges were legally incompatible with two stalking counts also brought against M.
She has left the stalking charges in place, which carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Garnett wrote that she had acted to “foreclose the death penalty as an available punishment to be considered by the jury” as it weighs whether to convict M.
She also dismissed a gun charge but left stalking charges in place, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Garnett said prosecutors could not pursue capital punishment because they failed to show M. killed Thompson while committing another “crime of violence,” writing that stalking does not meet that definition under existing case law and legal precedent.
Backpack evidence ruled admissible
In a partial win for prosecutors, Garnett ruled they may use evidence seized from M.’s backpack at the time of his arrest, including a 9 mm handgun and a notebook in which authorities say he purportedly described an intention to “wack” a health insurance executive. Defense lawyers had argued the search was illegal because police had not yet obtained a warrant.
M. was portrayed by some as a hero amid frustration over the cost of healthcareImage: Jeenah Moon/REUTERS
M., 27, has pleaded not guilty to federal and state murder charges, with the state case also carrying the possibility of life in prison but not the death penalty.
An Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, M. was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles west of Manhattan. Thompson’s murder exposed deep public frustration with the lucrative US commercial health care system, with some of M’s supporters portraying him as a hero.
Following through on a campaign pledge to pursue capital punishment, Attorney General Pam Bondi last April ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty against M.
M.’s lawyers argued that Bondi’s announcement violated Justice Department protocols and said the decision was based on politics rather than merit, adding that subsequent social media posts and a TV appearance prejudiced the grand jury process that led to his indictment.
*Editor’s note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and obliges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar
