"Federal prosecutors had sought the death penalty on a murder charge, but U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett threw the murder count out in January along with a related firearms charge. At issue was whether the underlying charges, two federal stalking counts, qualified as "crimes of violence." Judge Garnett concluded they did not."
"The decision, she wrote, "may strike the average person - and indeed many lawyers and judges - as tortured and strange," adding that the result seemed "contrary to our intuitions about the criminal law." Ultimately, she wrote, "the law must be the Court's only concern.""
"Mangione still faces the two remaining federal stalking charges, each carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. His federal trial is scheduled to begin in September. Mangione is expected to face state charges for the alleged murder in June."
Luigi Mangione, accused of shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December, will not face the death penalty after federal prosecutors declined to appeal a judge's dismissal of the federal murder charge. U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett ruled that two underlying federal stalking counts did not qualify as crimes of violence, which was necessary to support the murder charge carrying capital punishment. The judge acknowledged the ruling seemed counterintuitive but stated the law required this outcome. Mangione remains charged with two federal stalking counts, each carrying life imprisonment without parole, with his federal trial scheduled for September. He is also expected to face state murder charges in June.
Read at Gothamist
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]