New York, Jan 30, (dpa/GNA) – A New York judge on Friday ruled out the possibility of the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, should he be convicted of killing an insurance executive on a street in midtown Manhattan in December 2024.
However, a life sentence without parole is still possible, Federal Judge Margaret Garnett decided in New York. Garnett also ruled that evidence found in a rucksack at the time of Mangione’s arrest may be used at trial.
The 27-year-old is accused of having shot dead Brian Thompson, who was chief executive of United Healthcare, a multibillion-dollar US health insurer. Thompson, 50, was shot on December 4, 2024 at close range near Times Square and died of his injuries in hospital.
The decision on the possible sentence is a setback for US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had openly called for the death penalty for Mangione. His defence criticized this interference as a
“profound conflict of interest.”
Prior to joining the current US administration, Bondi was a partner in a law firm that had business dealings with United Healthcare.
The killing was captured by surveillance cameras and the public manhunt made headlines worldwide. The gunman initially fled on a bicycle and then disappeared. Five days later, Mangione was arrested as a suspect in a fast-food restaurant in the city of Altoona in the US state of Pennsylvania.
There was an unusual outpouring of sympathy for Mangione as millions of US residents despair over their country’s expensive and inadequate healthcare system.
In addition to the federal case, separate proceedings are also under way against Mangione in the states of New York and Pennsylvania.
GNA