Luigi Mangione's Murder Case Takes A Major Turn With A Huge Win
By Afouda Bamidele on January 30, 2026 at 3:30 PM EST
The worst-case scenario for Luigi Mangione in his ongoing case is not death anymore!
The Italian-American man accused of killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, will not be getting the death penalty anymore as his case advances.
Luigi Mangione has been in court since 2024, fighting off both federal and state charges, claiming that he is connected to the murder of the healthcare firm owner.
Luigi Mangione Escapes The Death Penalty
The 27-year-old's team recorded a win today as the trial team just ruled that the death penalty will not be featured in the judgment for his ongoing case.
The federal agents had wanted the judge to rule that the stalking charges slammed against Mangione were categorized as crimes of violence, which would then lead to him getting federally charged with murder.
The judge has now ruled that stalking is indeed not a crime of violence, and Mangione cannot even be charged with murder in the federal case. Now, all Mangione can be accused of is stalking, and the maximum punishment for that is a life sentence without parole.
He is, however, still charged in state court in New York with murder, where the death penalty is non-existent. TMZ also reported that prosecutors in the case did not go home empty-handed, as the judge ruled that the evidence discovered in his backpack was admissible in the trial.
Mangione's defense team had argued that the evidence searched for and found should not be admissible because the federal agents did not have a search warrant in place.
This means that the jury will finally see the gun discovered in Mangione's backpack and his diary, which prosecutors have claimed contained a very detailed confession.
The Italian-American's Legal Team Accused AG Pam Bondi Of Conflict Of Interest
Mangione's lawyers stated last year that the death penalty petition filed by federal agents should be dismissed due to some complexities in the case. As reported by The Blast, the accused lawyers claimed that Bondi has a history of financial ties with Thompson's company.
According to them, the attorney general used to be a partner at American lobbying firm Ballard Partners, which lists UnitedHealth Group as a client.
His defense team continued that Bondi had continued to receive personal and financial benefits through a profit-sharing plan from Ballard's professional association with the company.
Mangione's lawyers noted that it was her ties with Thompson that made her seek the death penalty against their client as her first assignment of office. The defense team insisted that Bondi should have removed herself from the case due to her close ties with the dead.
Pam Bondi Described Luigi Mangione's Alleged Murder Of Brian Thompson As Premeditated
After her swearing into office on February 5, 2025, as the 87th attorney general of the United States, she immediately directed authorities to ensure that Mangione received the death penalty in April 2025. According to her:
"Luigi Mangione's murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America."
Mangione was arrested in 2024 at a local McDonald's in Pennsylvania, five days after Thompson was murdered outside a Manhattan hotel. He had reportedly initially lied about his identity, pretending to be homeless, and gave the police a fake identity card while being questioned.
Following the police confirmation that his identity card was fake, he told the cops he had just gotten back from New York, but he failed to disclose what he was there for, further fueling suspicion about being the killer.
The Maryland Native's Arrest Swept Across Social Media, Gathering Attention And Support
Mangione's case did not take long before gaining massive attention online from people who were frustrated with the health insurance industry. His arrest and the circumstances surrounding it soon sparked discourses expressing the need for an overhaul of the healthcare system.
The Blast reported that Mangione's team tapped into the growing momentum and launched a website to provide optimum information about his case and answer essential questions.
He took to the website in February 2025 to express his gratitude for the love and support he has received in overwhelming ways since his arrest. Federal authorities claimed during his arrest that Mangione fatally shot Thompson in New York and fled the scene.
The information did not deter his supporters; instead, they kept on showing up for him, cutting across racial, political, and class lines, as acknowledged by Mangione in the statement on his website.
Luigi Mangione's Lawyers Fight Off The Charlie Kirk Comparison By Donald Trump
Mangione's lawyer filed a letter to the federal court over a comment made by Trump in the wake of Kirk's death due to a shooting in Utah.
In the letter, the 27-year-old's team claimed that by comparing their client's alleged actions to those of Kirk's shooter, they have unfairly tied him to unrelated acts of political violence, which may influence the public narrative.
"The Government has indelibly prejudiced Mr. Mangione by baselessly linking him to unrelated violent events and left-wing extremist groups, despite there being no connection or affiliation," Mangione's team stated.
They added that Kirk's assassination has linked him to broader extremist discourse, even with a lack of evidence that he killed Thompson.
Trump's statement on Mangione shooting someone in the back in broad daylight during his Fox News interview on September 18, 2025, received attention and amplification from his supporters and other officials of his government.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt referred to Mangione as a "left-wing assassin," while deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller claimed Luigi Mangione was part of a network of "so-called anti-fascists … really communist revolutionaries."
What turn will the rest of Luigi Mangione's case take, now that he does not have to worry about the death penalty?
