NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge on Tuesday threw out terrorism charges against Luigi Mangione, rejecting the Manhattan district attorney’s theory in a state murder case that the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was “intended to evoke terror.”

Judge Gregory Carro kept other charges in place, including a second-degree murder count that requires prosecutors to prove Mangione intended to kill Thompson but not that he was doing so as an act of terrorism.

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The ruling eliminated the top two charges in Mangione’s state case, sparing him the possibility of a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. The 27-year-old Ivy League graduate is also facing a parallel federal death penalty prosecution. Carro said the defense’s argument that the dueli

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