Judge Throws Out Flimsy Terrorism Charges Against Luigi Mangione

A New York state court on Tuesday dismissed all terrorism charges against Luigi Mangione, the 27-year-old accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, with Judge Gregory Carro ruling they were “legally insufficient.”

While the prosecution put “great emphasis on defendant’s ‘ideological’ motive,” Carro wrote, to meet the definition of terrorism, an action must have the intent to “intimidate and coerce a civilian population.”

In the case of Mangione, he noted, “there is no indication in the statute that a murder committed for ideological reasons (in this case, the defendant’s apparent desire to draw attention to what he perceived as inequities or greed within the American health care system), fits within the definition of terrorism, without establishing the necessary element of an intent to intimidate or coerce.”

The prosecution, Carro ruled, falsely conflated Mangione’s alleged “ideological belief with the intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population.”

“While the defendant was clearly expressing an animus toward UHC, and the health care industry generally,” no evidence was presented that Mangione’s alleged actions constituted terrorism.

Mangione still faces second-degree murder charges, as well as federal charges and Pennsylvania state charges.

This is a developing story.