A Manhattan judge has dismissed two terrorism-related murder charges against Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Judge Gregory Carro tossed out a charge of first-degree murder as a crime of terrorism during Mangione’s first court appearance in five months on Tuesday, ABC News reports. In his decision, Carro wrote that while Mangione clearly expressed “animus toward UHC, and the health care industry generally, it does not follow that his goal was to ‘intimidate and coerce a civilian population.’
Prosecutors had argued that Mangione’s actions intimidated or coerced UnitedHealthcare employees, but the judge rejected this reasoning as insufficient to justify terrorism charges. Carro also dismissed a second-degree murder charge related to killing