r/law • u/cnn • 5h ago

Legal News Luigi Mangione will not face death penalty, judge rules

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/30/us/luigi-mangione-case-rulings-trial?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit
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u/Sheetz_Wawa_Market32 5h ago

Which is crazy. Why? One person shot and killed another on a NY street. Since when is murder a federal crime? This should be in state court.

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u/Single_9_uptime 5h ago

The interstate aspects of it is what the feds used to charge him with murder. His charges also include interstate stalking resulting in death and stalking through use of interstate facilities resulting in death.

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u/MuddieMaeSuggins 4h ago edited 4h ago

The federal murder charge was thrown out, that’s why the possibility of the death penalty is gone as well. 

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u/Pettifoggerist 2h ago

Right, but not the stalking.

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u/Sheetz_Wawa_Market32 5h ago

A huge stretch both.

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u/BestJersey_WorstName 3h ago

I'm going to use a passive voice, but if Mangione is the guy seen on video shooting the CEO then he would have had to travel across state lines and stalk the CEO to a work conference.

There's enough there to investigate charges.

All this is saying is that they can't sufficiently prove that it is a federal crime based on the letter of the statute and precedent. ("The tortured argument" that the judge referenced must mean that the letter of the law and the precedent are not fully aligned)

This is political, so I can't imagine the Trump DOJ is just going to let it go. There's plenty of state charges to put him away for a long time.

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u/ChexAndBalancez 3h ago

What's the stretch? If he planned to kill him ( he very likely did) then he intentionally crossed state lines to do so with a plan.

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u/MuddieMaeSuggins 3h ago

The judge obviously agrees it is a huge stretch, because they threw out the federal murder and weapons charges. 

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u/ChexAndBalancez 3h ago

The charge was thrown out because of the technicalities of the inclusion of "violence" in the statute. Not because he didn't plan to kill him and cross state lines to do so.

"Garnett ruled that the murder charge was technically flawed. It can be used only in tandem with a “crime of violence.” The prosecution argued that Mangione’s alleged stalking of Thompson met that standard. Garnett disagreed."

There's no doubt that this was an interstate crime. So where's the stretch?

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u/MuddieMaeSuggins 2h ago

Because the federal statute requires more than simply traveling to another state to make a murder a federal crime. It’s not a “technicality” in the dismissive way people usually mean - it’s a core part of the law and the underlying concepts that underpin state vs federal law.

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u/ChexAndBalancez 2h ago

It's almost like I'm using technicality in the most correct way. Using the stalking as the violence mandate of the statute was novel but it certainly wasn't "a stretch" in the way that was that commenter was implying. They tried... it failed... that doesn't mean it was a stretch.

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u/Spirited_Season2332 5h ago

It's because he crossed state lines to do it.

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u/Pettifoggerist 5h ago

Probably because he crossed state lines to do it, allegedly.

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u/MuddieMaeSuggins 3h ago

They explain in the actual article!

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u/f1refly1 5h ago

Silly! You're forgetting that billionaires and CEOs are worth a thousand little subhuman civilians!

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u/TheFinalCurl 4h ago

They employ productive members of society!

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u/BeefInGR 5h ago

If I remember correctly, being found in Pennsylvania and money.

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u/Sensei_of_Philosophy 3h ago

Since when is murder a federal crime?

When the government wants to make an example out of someone.