Federal prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge ruled Friday, thwarting efforts by the Trump administration to see him executed for what it called a “premeditated, cold-blooded killing that shocked America.”

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed the federal murder charge against Mangione, finding it technically flawed. She wrote that she did so to “preclude the death penalty as an available penalty for the jury to consider” while deciding whether to convict Mangione.

Garnett also dismissed the weapons charge but left in place the stalking charges, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. To seek the death penalty, prosecutors had to prove that Mangione killed Thompson while committing another “crime of violence.” Stalking does not fit that definition, Garnett wrote in her opinion, citing case law and legal precedent.

In a victory for prosecutors, Garnett ruled that prosecutors could use evidence collected from his backpack during the arrest, including a 9mm handgun and a notebook in which Mangione said he described his intention to “assault” the insurance director.

Mangione’s lawyers sought to exempt those cases, arguing that the search was illegal because police had not yet obtained a warrant.

The judgments could be appealed. A message seeking comment was left with a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, which is prosecuting the federal case.

Garnett acknowledged that the decision “might strike the average person—and indeed many lawyers and judges—as tortured and strange, and the result might seem contrary to our intuitions about the criminal law.”

But, she said, it reflects her “committed effort to faithfully apply the dictates of the Supreme Court to the charges in this case. The law must be the court’s sole concern.”

Mangione has pleaded not guilty

Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty to federal and state murder charges. State charges also carry the possibility of life in prison.

He arrived in court for a case conference shortly after the written verdict was issued. His lawyers did not immediately comment on the decision, but may do so during or after the conference.

Jury selection in the federal case is scheduled to begin on September 8, followed by opening statements and testimony beginning on October 13. A state trial has not yet been scheduled. On Wednesday, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office sent a letter urging the judge in the case to set a July 1 trial date.

Thompson, 50, was shot and killed on Dec. 4, 2024, while walking to a midtown Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference.

WATCH | Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty:

Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty. Where does his case stand?

Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting a UnitedHealthcare executive, pleaded not guilty Monday to murder and terrorism charges. Former U.S. Attorney Roland Riopelle explains where Mangione’s case stands.

Surveillance video showed him being shot from behind by a masked assailant. Police say the ammunition had “delay,” “deny” and “delay” written on it, mimicking a term used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Penn., about 230 miles west of Manhattan.

Following Donald Trump’s campaign promise to vigorously pursue the death penalty, Attorney General Pam Bondi last April ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Mangione.

It was the first time the Justice Department sought the death penalty in President Trump’s second term. He returned to office a year ago with a promise to resume federal executions after they were halted under his predecessor, Joe Biden.

‘Based on politics, not merit’

Garnett, who was appointed by Biden, made the ruling after a series of court filings by the prosecution and defense in recent months. She held an oral argument on the matter earlier this month.

In addition to seeking to overturn the death penalty based on the reasons Garnett cited, Mangione’s attorneys argued that Bondi’s disclosure violated long-established Justice Department protocols and showed the decision was “based on politics, not merit.”

They said her statements, followed by posts on her Instagram account and TV appearances, “indelibly prejudiced” the grand jury process that resulted in his indictment weeks later.

Prosecutors urged Garnett to keep the death penalty on the table, arguing that the charges allowing for such a sentence were legally valid and that Bondi’s remarks were not prejudicial, since “pretrial publicity, even when intense, is not itself a constitutional defect.”

Instead of throwing the case outright or barring the government from seeking the death penalty, prosecutors argued, the defense’s concerns can best be alleviated by carefully questioning prospective jurors about their knowledge of the case and ensuring that Mangione’s trial rights are respected.

“What the defendant is recasting as a constitutional crisis is merely a repackaging of arguments” rejected in previous cases, prosecutors said. “No one guarantees the dismissal of an indictment or the categorical exclusion of a sentence authorized by Congress.”