By now, most of the United States has heard about Luigi Mangione. In December 2024, he “allegedly” killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in broad daylight. While facing murder charges was almost inevitable, several other charges were added on top of that.
That included two terrorism charges. If these charges were to stick, it would likely mean Luigi would get life in prison, not including anything else he is charged with. Lawyers for Mangione have been arguing since the start that this was not a case of terrorism. It’s true, even if Luigi did all he is accused of, terrorism did not take place.
It seems the court agrees.
Judge Drops Terrorism Charges
On Tuesday morning, during a hearing, Judge Gregory Carro decided to drop both terrorism charges against Luigi Mangione. Judge Carro felt the prosecutors had failed to establish enough evidence to justify terrorism-related murder charges.
In a written ruling, Judge Carro said the allegations against Luigi Mangione simply did not meet the definition of terrorism under New York state law. This is very important because New York has experienced terrorist problems in the past. This is perhaps why Luigi was able to avoid terrorism charges in New York. It’s possible that he might not have been as lucky in another state.
New York Terrorism Law
New York actually specified what they saw as a terrorist attack following the September 11, 2001 attack. Judge Carro noted that the prosecution failed to demonstrate Luigi’s intent to exert political pressure on the government or to terrorize the general population, writing:
“There was no evidence presented that the defendant made any demands of government or sought any particular governmental policy change, let alone that he did so by intimidation or coercion.”
The video of the attack perhaps helps this even more. If you check the video, there is at least one woman who walks by as all of this is unfolding. The alleged killer did not attack or even seek to intimidate the woman, focusing entirely on Brian Thompson. They were also not linked to any further assaults or criminal activity in any form following the murder. This always made the terrorism charge nearly impossible to prove for the prosecution.
First-Degree Murder Dropped
While this occurred before the latest ruling, Luigi Mangione was still facing the severe crime of first-degree murder. If convicted, he faced a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. By dropping this, if convicted, Luigi will no longer face guaranteed life in prison.
Second-degree murder charges are still in play, and this can carry up to life in prison. However, that is the maximum possible sentence and still allows the possibility of parole after 15 years in the state of New York. Meanwhile, the crime carries a minimum sentence of 15 to 25 years, even without parole.
Luigi Mangione is still charged with weapons and forgery crimes, which carry a far lighter sentence. Of course, he faces seven weapons charges (unlicensed firearm, 3D gun, silencer, etc.) with one forgery charge over a fake ID.
This isn’t all Luigi faces, however.
Federal Charges
Perhaps the most difficult for Luigi Mangione to overcome is the federal charges he faces.
There are three federal charges, including murder through the use of a firearm, interstate stalking resulting in death, and a firearms offense.
This is where the real worry for Luigi and his lawyers must be focused. If charged with these crimes, that could lead to the death penalty.
State Trial Happening Fast
Prosecutors hoped to delay Luigi’s New York state trial until after the conclusion of Mangione’s federal trial. Judge Carro pushed back on this as well, stating that the trial hearings for New York will begin on December 1st.
This actually makes a lot of sense. It will take place almost one year after the crimes Luigi is alleged to have committed. Luigi’s lawyers have been in and out of court throughout the year so far. Yet the state trial will be the biggest day in court for them in all of 2025.
How We Got Here: UnitedHealthcare
Luigi Mangione was no friend to corrupt healthcare institutions like the UnitedHealth Group. The company had been “allegedly” screwing over customers for years. This ramped up dramatically a few years ago, when their artificial intelligence system started to deny claims.
It was said to be invented to speed up the process of administrative work. This included the handling of insurance claims. It would either deny or approve claims based on the information provided during its development. Removing the bad ones made sense, but it ended up denying around nine out of ten claims. Meaning, it had a 90% error rate!!
Some claims were later reversed to be approved, but not others. This has led to several lawsuits, including one class action lawsuit that a judge approved in early 2025.
How We Got Here: CEO Brian Thompson
Brian Thompson had been in charge at UnitedHealth since April 2021. It only made sense for Thompson to want to use artificial intelligence. Any insurance company could use it to speed up its processes. However, problems with the AI had been taking place for a while. In fact, they had problems with it almost immediately upon launching it.
Lawsuits over AI date back to 2023, at least a year before Luigi Mangione allegedly killed Brian Thompson. Brian’s killer likely knew someone who passed due to this and/or had problems with denials themselves. UnitedHealthcare is the largest health insurer in the United States, which means it can impact a large number of people. This AI problem really caused nationwide healthcare issues.
How We Got Here: UnitedHealth AI
While spokespeople for the UnitedHealth Group have pushed back against claims made by upset customers, the lawsuits are pretty straightforward. Families have accused UnitedHealth of using a faulty AI system to deny claims while still collecting premiums, without actually needing to pay for coverage for customers. This especially includes the elderly, as the families stated that UnitedHealth believed that the older individuals would lack the knowledge and resources “to appeal the erroneous AI-powered decisions.”
Lawyers spoke with CBS about all of this back in late 2023, claiming UnitedHealth continues…
“to systemically deny claims using their flawed AI model because they know that only a tiny minority of policyholders (roughly 0.2%) will appeal denied claims, and the vast majority will either pay out-of-pocket costs or forgo the remainder of their prescribed post-acute care.”
How We Got Here: Medicare Trouble
The same lawyers representing other clients in a major class action lawsuit against UnitedHealth remain open to representing other families affected by the insurance company. They claim they are looking for:
“All persons who purchased Medicare Advantage Plan health insurance from Defendants(UnitedHealth) in the United States during the period of four years prior to the filing of the complaint through the present (2023).”
How We Got Here: Soaring Profit
Brian Thompson was a great leader for UnitedHealth if your only concern was driving up profit. Since taking over as CEO of the insurance division, they have seen a large jump in profits. From 2022 to 2024, they recorded a total of roughly $69 billion. Here are the adjusted earnings for UnitedHealth during those years.
2022: $21.081 billion
2023: $23.567 billion
2024: $25.699 billion
Of course, due to the ongoing issues at UnitedHealth, the earnings did not reflect their Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) profits well. They lost about $10 billion that year due to cyberattacks, among other issues. Yet they still racked up $25 billion before that loss.
What’s Next?
Luigi Mangione still faces significant charges at both the state and federal level. Therefore, this is certainly an evolving case. Of course, Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him, which may or may not end up being a mistake. Police say that he left a note criticizing companies profiting from the U.S. healthcare system, accusing them of “corruption & greed.”
They claim it was part of a manifesto of sorts. Law enforcement would later arrest Luigi in Pennsylvania before sending him back to New York. He has been in New York ever since, awaiting what happens next. While dropping terrorism charges is big in his case, so far, there has yet to be an appealing argument for his innocence in all of this. That might not go well for him at his state and federal trials.