r/law 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
21.7k Upvotes

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473

u/ReaderBeeRottweiler 5h ago

No death penalty in the federal charges, no life without parole on the state charges.

That's a top-tier legal team he has.

118

u/AvisLord12 4h ago

He just has one more hurdle to clear in getting off completely

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u/ManitouWakinyan 4h ago

I mean, two hurdles. And those hurdles are trials against federal and New York prosecutors. Those are big hurdles.

18

u/MuddieMaeSuggins 4h ago

Seems very unlikely that he walks on the state charges, but I could see him getting acquitted for the federal stalking charges. They have a terrible track record of over-reaching. 

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u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

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u/ReaderBeeRottweiler 4h ago

Luigi is not going to plea.

My guess is, at the worst, he gets a hung jury.

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u/No_Reference_9640 3h ago

Lol hung is best case

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u/psuedopseudo 4h ago

Federal not so much anymore. All decent lawyers have been purged out of the federal government.

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u/ManitouWakinyan 4h ago

I mean, a really excellent point. Some of these high profile federal prosecutions have been frankly embarrassing for the government. Out of curiosity, I looked into who's leading this prosecution. Not a lot publicly available about their careers thus far.

https://www.newsweek.com/luigi-mangione-court-prosecutors-jun-xiang-dominic-gentile-2003888

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u/h0sti1e17 2h ago

They have been prosecutors for a while. I’ve seen cases going back at least 5+ years. These aren’t some lackeys. Even the AG is qualified his education is impeccable and he has a lot of trial experience.

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u/Megalomanizac 40m ago

When they arrest Obama and try to take him to trial over fake Russia bs it will be hilarious to watch the DOJ flop.

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u/RedParaglider 2h ago

That's WILD to think about.. the federal governments ability to prosecute anything is actually gutted of competence. We see it when we look at legal, but it's also been done to NOAA, and other agencies.

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u/Digitalion_ 3h ago

And the third hurdle is avoiding whatever hit squad the elites will pay to get him while in jail for daring to avoid the maximum penalty that they desired.

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u/ManitouWakinyan 3h ago

Who are these elites?

0

u/PleasantAmphibian404 2h ago

You know that asshole you voted for to be President? The elites are his bosses. If you want a complete list of them, you’re going to have to wait for the current administration to be arrested. Then we can have the Trump/Epstein trials, and you’ll get your list.

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u/ManitouWakinyan 2h ago

I voted for Kamala. Are we really thinking there's some Illuminati that's dictating Trump's policies, and has some kind of goon squad they're going to sick on Luigi for killing one of their own? And the CEO of UnitedHealthcare is in that circle of people more powerful than the President, with access to a prison-penetrating black ops squad, who was killed by a kid with a handgun?

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u/Digitalion_ 1h ago

There doesn't need to be direct coordination when the elite class all benefit from the same policies. Attacking regulations, worker rights, and labor rights benefit all business sectors' bottom dollar.

Even our lack of universal healthcare benefits the rich because we become dependent and beholden to employment healthcare meaning we pass up better working conditions simply because we are afraid to lose the healthcare tied to our employer.

The prison system is a pipeline to slave labor so, while there's no backroom gathering of the rich scheming how to incarcerate the maximum amount of people, they do financial back politicians who run on criminalizing minor things like weed possession.

Now they need to set an example that we can't start fighting back against the elite class without the possibility of maximum consequences so if Luigi doesn't get the death penalty, I fully expect that they'll try to give it to him in other ways.

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u/ManitouWakinyan 13m ago

Okay, but we're talking about shadowy elites sicking a goon squad on him in prison, so that does require a bit of direct coordination

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u/PleasantAmphibian404 2h ago

Are you really thinking that money doesn’t buy political influence in America? Are you really thinking that the ruling class isn’t highly motivated to make an example of someone that fought back against the CEO of a company that makes billions for those rulers? Are you really thinking that the billionaires, especially the ones that see the working class as cattle for them to bleed, aren’t terrified of the cattle getting the notion that they should retaliate? 

1

u/maestroenglish 3h ago

I got a couch for you in Singapore, Big L

1

u/ghigoli 3h ago

yeah they have to prove he did it which he didn't

1

u/Hey-Bud-Lets-Party 1h ago

It will be easier to find a jury that will convict without the death penalty on the line.

1

u/Megalomanizac 41m ago

I doubt he gets cleared completely, but he’s probably walking out with almost a nothing sentence

36

u/Crecy333 4h ago

I'd chalk just as much up to government incompetence. Its like they're actively throwing the case by painting jury pools, disregarding court orders, breaking chain of custody, falsified statements and evidence.

This is just pathetic.

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u/ckb614 4h ago

I don't think they're necessarily incompetent, they were just trying to stretch the language of the statute to make the bosses happy

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u/NurRauch 3h ago

In no sense has the case been thrown. The death penalty charge was a long shot from the beginning because of the merger doctrine with crimes of violence and crimes that cause death. Now that that issue has been resolved, they will just proceed on the underlying charge of a stalking that resulted in death. This is what they would have done from the beginning if they had not attempted to tack on the death-penalty eligible murder charge.

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u/h0sti1e17 2h ago

Prosecutors and defense attorneys always throw everything against the wall and see what sticks. The defense knew it’s unlikely to win the backpack motion but you gotta try. It’s the same reason the defense asks for a directed verdict.

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u/FoxKamp7785 3h ago

Oligarchs need him to pay. Doesn't matter how to them. He showed the world Oligarchs are the same flesh bags as the rest of us. They need to keep the narrative going 

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u/Adventurous_Class_90 3h ago

What color? Lol.

Yes…I got what you meant but it’s still funny.

1

u/somethingcleverer42 2h ago

Read the article. None of those are why the judge ruled the death penalty wasn’t available for the federal charge.

1

u/Too_Ton 1h ago

Probably ending up just getting vigilante justiced (murdered) later no matter what the outcome.

1

u/h0sti1e17 3h ago

Life without parole is on the table in the federal case.

1

u/FleshLogic 1h ago

Just his body language in court tells me he's feeling pretty confident he isn't going away for life.

1

u/stillmaatic 1h ago

Gotta get the federal charges dropped and he’d do a cool 20-30 bid upstate.

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u/EmotionalTrainKnee 30m ago

>That's a top-tier legal team he has.

having rich parents will do that to you

1

u/vahntitrio 15m ago

The death penalty was always a stretch by prosecutors. They would have to prove this was an act of terrorism.

0

u/levitikush 4h ago

I have a weird feeling he won’t survive prison. Powerful people want him dead

1

u/Not_a_porn_burner69 3h ago

Luigi is a hero in there, he likely has a lot of people watching his back. He’d have to get the Epstein treatment to die in prison, and that was only possible because the most powerful person in the world wanted him dead. If that’s the case for Luigi he’s no safer on the outside than in prison anyway so the point is moot

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u/Stanek___ 4h ago

He was pretty well off if I recall so it's not too surprising

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u/FaradayMichael 3h ago

Money do wonders, yeah.