By Shashwat Bhandari

Copyright timesnownews

New York: Luigi Mangione, accused of shooting dead UnitedHealthcare’s Chief Executive Brian Thompson in December 2024, has escaped two state terrorism charges, including one of first-degree murder. Dismissing the state terrorism charges, New York Judge Gregory Carro said that the evidence behind the charges was ‘legally insufficient’. However, Mangione still faces charges of second-degree murder. Mangione targeted the executive of the United States’ largest health insurance company in front of the hotel where the company was about to conduct its annual investor conference in Midtown Manhattan. Crime Motivated By Ideology Can’t Be Considered Terrorism , New York Judge In a written decision released as Mangione appeared in court, Judge Gregory Carro said that although there is no doubt that the killing was not an ordinary street crime, New York law doesn’t consider something terrorism simply because it was motivated by ideology. “While the defendant was clearly expressing an animus toward UHC, and the health care industry generally, it does not follow that his goal was to ‘intimidate and coerce a civilian population,’ and indeed, there was no evidence presented of such a goal,” Carro wrote. The judge also said there was insufficient evidence that Mangione intended to influence or affect government policy by intimidation or coercion — another element of the terrorism charges. But in keeping the second-degree murder charge, Carro ruled there was sufficient evidence that Mangione “murdered Brian Thompson in a premeditated and calculated execution.” Mangione’s Lawyers Didn’t Comment After Hearing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office issued a brief statement, saying, “We respect the Court’s decision and will proceed on the remaining nine counts.” The judge scheduled pretrial hearings in the case for December 1, which is days before Mangione is next due in court in the federal case against him. It was Mangione’s first court appearance in the state case since February, and he wore beige prison clothes, handcuffs and shackles. Why Luigi Mangione Attracts Cult Following? The 27-year-old Ivy League graduate Luigi Mangione has attracted a cult following as a stand-in for frustrations with the health insurance industry. Supporters of Mangione took up three rows in the courtroom gallery. As was the case at his last hearing, a few dozen supporters, mostly women, showed up to Tuesday’s proceedings. Some were dressed in green — the color the Mario Bros. video game character Luigi wears — as a symbol of solidarity, and one woman sported a “FREE LUIGI” T-shirt. Outside, some supporters who gathered across the street from the courthouse cheered and clapped as news of the dropped terrorism charges spread. Mangione earlier pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism, in the Dec. 4, 2024, killing. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind as he arrived for an investor conference at the New York Hilton Midtown. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were scrawled on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase commonly used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims. Mangione was arrested five days later after he was spotted eating breakfast at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City. Since then, he has been held at the same Brooklyn federal jail where Sean “Diddy” Combs is locked up. Mangione’s lawyers argued that the New York case and a parallel federal death penalty prosecution amounted to double jeopardy. But Carro rejected that argument, saying it would be premature to make such a determination. Bragg’s office contended that there are no double jeopardy issues because neither of Mangione’s cases has gone to trial and because the state and federal prosecutions involve different legal theories. Mangione’s lawyers said the dueling cases have created a “legal quagmire” that makes it “legally and logistically impossible to defend against them simultaneously.” What Second-Degree Charges Mean For Luigi Mangione? The second-degree murder charge carries a potential penalty of 15 years to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 25 years. The federal charges allege that Mangione stalked Thompson and do not involve terrorism allegations. US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in April that she was directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for “an act of political violence” and a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.” Bragg’s office quoted extensively from Mangione’s handwritten diary in a court filing seeking to uphold his state murder charges. They highlighted his desire to kill an insurance honcho and his praise for Ted Kaczynski, the late terrorist known as the Unabomber. With inputs from AP Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from US News and around the World.