MANHATTAN – METROPOLITAN DETENTION CENTER inmate Luigi Mangione will avoid the death penalty in his upcoming federal trial for the alleged shooting of health insurance executive Brian Thompson in December 2024, after the federal Department of Justice declined to appeal a judge’s ruling, Gothamist reports.
Judge Margaret Garnett in January ruled that the federal government had failed to establish that Mangione’s alleged stalking of Thompson prior to the shooting qualified as violent, for the purposes of seeking capital punishment. Prosecutors in a short memo on Thursday wrote that they would not challenge that ruling.
Mangione continues to face separate federal stalking charges, as well as state murder charges, carrying a potential sentence of life in prison. He has pleaded not guilty.
