<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A judge on Tuesday dismissed terrorism charges against Luigi Mangione in New York state's case over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, but he kept the state's second-degree murder charges against the Ivy League graduate.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mangione's lawyers argued that the New York case and a parallel federal death penalty prosecution amounted to double jeopardy.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But Judge Gregory Carro rejected that argument, saying it would be premature to make such a determination.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/duchess-of-kent-funeral-british-royal-family-gather-westminster-abbey-farewell-oldest-member/3b80ebfb-7071-43e8-867f-1d2641079bc9"><strong><span>Royals gather for historic farewell to the Duchess of Kent</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It’s Mangione’s first court appearance in the state case since February.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The 27-year-old Ivy League graduate has attracted a cult following as a stand-in for frustrations with the health insurance industry.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Dozens of his supporters showed up to his last hearing, many wearing the Luigi video game character’s green colour as a symbol of solidarity.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/luigi-mangione-new-york-judge-tosses-terrorism-charges-against-accused-killer-lets-murder-count-stand/8364d920-7a86-44a1-828d-ed5b323484fb" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>His April arraignment in the federal case drew a similar outpouring.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In his written decision, the judge said that although there is no doubt that the killing was not ordinary street crime, New York law doesn’t consider something terrorism simply because it was motivated by ideology.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“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.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/robert-redford-dead-actor-director-activist-dies-aged-89/9427ebcd-1d60-46e9-98be-99ae9a1d375a"><strong><span>Hollywood heartthrob Robert Redford dies, aged 89</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Carro scheduled pre-trial hearings in the case for December 1, which is days before Mangione is next due in court in the federal case against him.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mangione pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism, in the December 4, 2024, killing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind as he arrived for an investor conference at the New York Hilton Midtown.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were scrawled on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase commonly used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mangione was arrested five days later after he was spotted eating breakfast at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about about 370 kilometers west of New York City.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Since then, he has been held at the same Brooklyn federal jail where Sean “Diddy” Combs is locked up.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/attempted-murder-man-allegedly-broke-into-victims-home-and-stabbed-him-in-his-sleep-west-end-queensland-news/1f49c58e-6124-4b62-80b4-f30f3c6098e2"><strong><span>Brisbane man allegedly stabbed in his sleep, doused in petrol</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Manhattan district attorney's office contends 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.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mangione’s lawyers say the dueling cases have created a “legal quagmire” that makes it “legally and logistically impossible to defend against them simultaneously.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The state charges, which carry a maximum of life in prison, allege that Mangione wanted to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population,” that is, insurance employees and investors.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The federal charges allege that Mangione stalked Thompson and do not involve terrorism allegations.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>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.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Manhattan district attorney's office quoted extensively from Mangione’s handwritten diary in a court filing seeking to uphold his state murder charges.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>They highlighted his desire to kill an insurance honcho and his praise for Ted Kaczynski, the late terrorist known as the Unabomber.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the writings, prosecutors said, Mangione mused about rebelling against “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel” and said killing an industry executive “conveys a greedy bastard that had it coming."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>They also cited a confession they say he penned “To the feds,” in which he wrote that “it had to be done.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mangione’s “intentions were obvious from his acts, but his writings serve to make those intentions explicit,” prosecutors said in the June filing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The writings, which they sometimes described as a manifesto, “convey one clear message: that the murder of Brian Thompson was intended to bring about revolutionary change to the healthcare industry.”</span></div></div>