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Mangione avoids death penalty after DOJ declines to appeal judge's ruling
By
Ryan Kost
Published Feb 28, 2026
Modified Feb 28, 2026
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By
Ryan Kost
Published Feb 28, 2026
Modified Feb 28, 2026
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Luigi Mangione will not face the death penalty in federal court after the Justice Department confirmed Thursday it won’t appeal a judge's decision to dismiss a federal murder charge that would have allowed the government to seek capital punishment.
Mangione, 27, is accused of shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel in December 2024. The killing made national headlines and led to a days-long manhunt before Mangione was finally arrested at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Federal prosecutors had sought the death penalty on a murder charge, but U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett threw the murder count out in January along with a related firearms charge.
At issue was whether the underlying charges, two federal stalking counts, qualified as “crimes of violence.” Judge Garnett concluded they did not, while being candid about how the ruling would be received.
The decision, she wrote, “may strike the average person — and indeed many lawyers and judges — as tortured and strange,” adding that the result seemed “contrary to our intuitions about the criminal law.” Ultimately, she wrote, “the law must be the Court's only concern.”
In a one-paragraph letter to Judge Garnett, prosecutors said that they would not fight the ruling.
Mangione still faces the two remaining federal stalking charges, each carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. His federal trial is scheduled to begin in September.
Mangione is expected to face state charges for the alleged murder in June.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the month of Brian Thompson's assassination.
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Luigi Mangione
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Ryan Kost
Ryan Kost is a reporter on the day-of news desk, where he covers breaking news and writes enterprise stories about jails, courts, prosecutors and government accountability. His work focuses on the public institutions that shape life in New York. Before joining the newsroom, he lead a multi-part investigation with Columbia Journalism Investigations and New York Focus into how New York prosecutors handle wrongful conviction claims. He's also been a staff writer at The San Francisco Chronicle, The Associated Press and The Oregonian. Got a tip? Signal: ryankost.20
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