A Manhattan judge on Tuesday dismissed New York state terrorism charges against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare Chief Executive Brian Thompson, ruling the state’s anti-terrorism statute does not apply to the case even as murder and other charges remain. Mangione continues to face state murder counts and a separate federal murder prosecution.
Judge Gregory Carro wrote that while the shooting was not "ordinary 'street crime,'" prosecutors failed to show the required intent that would transform the underlying offense into an act of terrorism under state law. The judge concluded prosecutors did not establish that Mangione intended to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population" or to influence government policy, two statutory predicates for the terrorism designation.
Prosecutors had charged Mangione under a 2001 New York law enacted six days after the Sept. 11 attacks that allows certain underlying crimes to be elevated to terrorism when they are committed with specified intents. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg argued prosecutors had shown Mangione intended to "sow terror," pointing to the timing and location of the shooting — early on a weekday during an investor conference where UnitedHealthcare employees and industry participants were present — and to entries in a handwritten diary and other evidence pointing to an ideological motive.
According to court filings, the 26-year-old Mangione described himself in a diary as a "revolutionary anarchist" and wrote about rebelling against what he called the "deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel." Prosecutors said he researched UnitedHealthcare, planned to "wack" the CEO during the investor gathering and marked shell casings and a cartridge with words such as "deny," "defend" and "depose." Prosecutors asserted the killing led to immediate disruptions: some companies canceled in-person investor meetings, employees were told to work from home, some doctors distanced themselves from UnitedHealthcare, and company call centers received death threats.
Defense attorneys argued the facts did not support applying the terrorism statute. They wrote in court papers that Thompson was not a government official and that UnitedHealthcare’s dispersed workforce does not amount to a "civilian population" as contemplated by the law. Defense counsel also said Mangione’s writings showed he specifically rejected indiscriminate attacks — noting entries stating "bombs = terrorism" — and did not demonstrate an intent to terrorize a broader community.
Judge Carro said prosecutors appeared to conflate ideological belief with the legal intent required for terrorism charges, and he dismissed the state's terror allegations while allowing non-terror murder and related counts to proceed. One state terror-related murder charge that had been filed would have carried a mandatory life sentence; the remaining state murder charge is punishable by 15 years to life if Mangione is convicted. New York does not have the death penalty, and the state’s highest court struck down the last capital punishment statute in 2004.
The New York statute at issue was adopted in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as part of a broader effort at the state and federal level — including the federal Patriot Act — to expand tools for countering terrorism. The statute makes an underlying offense a crime of terrorism if it is done with the intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, to influence the policy of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion, or to affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination or kidnapping. When applied, the terrorism designation increases potential sentences for the underlying offense.
Prosecutors have in past years invoked New York’s anti-terrorism law in cases that did not involve international plots or large-scale attacks, and courts have sometimes rejected those applications. New York’s highest court rejected the first use of the law in 2004 in a Bronx case involving a shooting at a christening party, expressing concern that stretching the definition of terrorism could trivialize the term. Other New York City prosecutions have applied the statute in cases ranging from alleged plots to bomb synagogues to efforts to recruit for the Islamic State group and to a racially motivated killing by a white supremacist.
One of Mangione’s lawyers, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, previously served as a top deputy to former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., and has been involved in prosecutions that used the anti-terrorism statute.
Mangione also faces a federal murder indictment in the death of Thompson. The state court’s dismissal of the terror charges does not affect the ongoing federal case. A trial date for the state murder charges has not been set, and court filings indicate both sides are expected to continue pretrial proceedings.
The judge’s ruling underscores the legal thresholds required to elevate violent crimes to terrorism in New York and highlights the ongoing debate over how broadly such statutes should be applied when crimes are motivated by political or ideological beliefs but do not clearly target a civilian population or aim to change government policy.