Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, briefly appeared at a Manhattan courthouse Sept. 16, where a judge swiftly dismissed two of the terrorism-related state charges against him.
Mangione, 27, faced nearly a dozen charges in New York state court after being accused of shooting Thompson, 50, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4, 2024. New York Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro dismissed the charges of first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism and murder in the second degree as a crime of terrorism shortly after Mangione was led into the lower Manhattan courtroom handcuffed and shackled, wearing tan prison garb. Mangione remains charged with second-degree murder.
Mangione's defense team had asked Carro to dismiss the state's "legally and factually unfounded" terrorism-related charges. Prosecutors argued in court filings that Mangione's writings and methodic planning of the attack justified the terrorism charges.