Luigi Mangione will not face the death penalty for allegedly killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024, a federal district judge ruled.

The decision is a loss for federal prosecutors, who were adamant about pursuing the death penalty in the case.

The judge dismissed the murder charge because it requires that the killing was committed during another “crime of violence.” Prosecutors alleged the other crimes of violence were two stalking charges, arguing Mangione stalked Thompson online and travelled across state lines to carry out the killing.

The judge disagreed, finding stalking charges are not “crimes of violence” and dismissed two counts in his federal case – murder and a related firearm offense.

  • sik0fewl@piefed.ca
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    2 months ago

    Judge Margaret Garnett also ruled Friday to allow into Mangione’s trial evidence recovered from his backpack at the time of his arrest.

    Law enforcement seized several items from Mangione’s backpack, including a handgun, a loaded magazine and a red notebook – key pieces of evidence that authorities have said tie him to the killing.

    • village604@adultswim.fan
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      2 months ago

      Not really since the obviously planted evidence with a broken chain of custody is allowed to be presented at trial.

      • panda_abyss@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        Is it a jury trail where the defence can seed reasonable doubt on the obvious chain of custody issues?

        • Inucune@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Jury nullification. The jury can all just decide not guilty and go to lunch. They get their jury duty paychecks in the mail.

      • rumba@lemmy.zip
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        2 months ago

        Nah, still good news. Getting off OJ style would be really good news, baby steps.

  • Formfiller@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Evil empire full of child killing pedofiles trying to kill the man who showed us the only way out ….im surprised people aren’t more pissed

  • Ulvain@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    But Jonathan Ross should (I’m actually against the death penalty, even for those ice murderers, just venting)

    • AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net
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      2 months ago

      It’s hard to not think this way when people like Renée Good and Alex Pretti were effectively sentenced to death, with no trial.

      I agree that venting can be quite cathartic, and I respect the fact that you make it clear that you are just venting. I think drawing those kinds of boundaries for yourself can help to prevent you from slipping into genuinely believing these things.

    • orbitz@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      Know the feeling, venting can be carthatic. I feel similarly as much as I don’t think anyone’s life should be taken without their consent so just a dwelling reaction to the entire situation that I don’t think is right, my reaction or the situation to be clear.

  • waterSticksToMyBalls@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Understanding the Scope of Stalking Conduct

    The federal statute defines the prohibited action as a “course of conduct,” requiring a pattern of behavior made up of two or more acts over time. A single, isolated incident of unwanted contact is not sufficient to meet the elements of the federal crime

    Source: https://legalclarity.org/what-is-18-u-s-c-1801-federal-interstate-stalking-laws/

    Could he get off since it only happened once?

  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    The 1984 crime control act is kind of interesting. It was written to walk a line and really limit the death penalty for federal cases. The death penalty requires murder to be stacked with something like robbery, kidnapping, mob shit, etc.

    Even though a premeditated murder would be considered a violent crime, the crime control act requires premeditated murder to be sandwiched within another violent crime to unlock the death penalty as a punishment option.

    This is one of those things that appears to go right up to the line, but the judge ruled on precedent.

    • Makeitstop@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Not a lawyer and haven’t read the law, but it seems logical that “stalking” isn’t a separate crime from premeditated murder when it’s just determining the location of the target and traveling to reach the target.

      • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Yeah. I do find it interesting that the crime control act from the 80’s has a lower punishment tier for a la carte premeditated murder. I wonder what the logic was behind that.

        Maybe it’s there to reduce the risk of executing people who are innocent? A defendant has to be found guilty on two violent offenses, which is a higher bar for prosecutors to clear.

        I’m not a big fan of the death penalty, but the history nerd in me is mildly curious about why this act was drafted in this way.