A U.S. judge has dismissed federal murder and weapons charges against Luigi Mangione, ruling that the counts were legally incompatible with the stalking offences he still faces.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett in Manhattan said she was constrained by Supreme Court precedents that set narrow conditions for applying federal violent crime laws.
Judge found that the murder and weapons charges against Luigi Mangione could proceed only if connected to a qualifying crime of violence.
The stalking charges remaining in the indictment did not meet this standard because the law recognises stalking as conduct that is not inherently violent and not always intentional.
Garnett noted that the conclusion may appear bewildering, describing the legal framework as tortured and strange.
Margaret Garnett added that the law, not public intuition, must guide the court, even when the alleged conduct involves crossing state lines and carrying a handgun fitted with a silencer.
Mangione, 27, still faces murder charges in a separate case brought by New York state prosecutors and could face life imprisonment if convicted on the federal stalking counts. No trial date has been set in the state case.
Federal prosecutor Dominic Gentile said the government has not decided whether to appeal the dismissal. Defence lawyer Karen Agnifilo called the ruling incredible and said the team was relieved after the hearing.
Thompson, who led the health insurance business of UnitedHealth Group, was killed outside the Hilton Midtown hotel on 4 December 2024. Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania five days later and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Legal experts said the ruling reflects a broader effort by the Supreme Court to stop prosecutors from stretching vague statutes to bring violent crime charges.
Scott Sundby, a professor at the University of Miami, said the question is not whether the alleged conduct appears violent but whether the statute itself is defined with enough precision to qualify as a crime of violence.
He said the court is wary of giving prosecutors too much power through flexible interpretations.
In a separate ruling, Garnett found that police were allowed to search Mangione’s backpack when he was arrested. The items found inside, including a pistol, silencer and journal entries, will be admissible at trial.
She said officers acted within standard practice when checking a bag that might contain dangerous objects and that federal investigators would have discovered the contents through a warrant in any case.
Federal jury selection is scheduled for September, with trial proceedings expected to begin on 12 October.
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