The Manhattan district attorney’s terrorism case against Luigi Mangione fell apart on Tuesday, as a New York judge found the evidence had not established he committed a terroristic act by allegedly killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO.

The decision to dismiss the two top charges against Mangione – murder in the first degree in furtherance of an act of terrorism and murder in the second degree as a crime of terrorism – marked a victory for the 27-year-old. Still, he faces a count of second-degree murder that could result in a sentence of 25 years to life, if convicted, and a separate federal death penalty prosecution.

“There was no evidence presented of a desire to terrorize the public, inspire widespread fear, engage in a broader campaign of violence, or to conspire with organized terrorist groups,” Judge Gregory Carro wrote in his decision Tuesday.

The killing of Brian Thompson was “very different,” he said, from the examples of terrorism laid out in the New York statute prosecutors cited to charge Mangione with terror-related murder charges, in part because his alleged act targeted just a single person.

Additionally, while the state had stressed the “ideological” goals of Thompson’s killing, that was not sufficient, Carro wrote, to fit the definition of terrorism.

To CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson, the judge’s decision was “not surprising and very courageous.”

“It’s a well-reasoned decision in my view,” Jackson said. “I think it’s a decision that the judge really justifies in terms of the facts and the law, and I think that it took a lot of courage for a judge in a very high-profile case not to be like, ‘Whatever, it’s close enough. Let’s go.’ That’s not what this judge did.”

A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told CNN the office respected the court’s decision “and will proceed on the remaining nine counts,” including second-degree murder.

Carro’s ruling “changes the dynamic” of the case against Mangione, Jackson said. “This now is a garden-variety murder case,” he said, saying he did not intend to discount the gravity of Thompson’s killing.

But what prosecutors must prove has now been “streamlined,” he said. Rather than proving terrorism, Jackson said, they must prove the elements of second-degree murder: “Was this a premeditated, intentional murder? Yes or no? Boom. Done.”

Demonstrators cheer judge’s ruling

Carro’s ruling Tuesday came just as Mangione, wearing a beige jumpsuit with his wrists and ankles shackled, walked into a Manhattan courtroom in anticipation of the judge’s decision on several defense motions aimed at halting or delaying his prosecution in New York state.

On those, Mangione’s defense received a mixed bag of rulings.

Separate from their arguments against the terror-related charges, Mangione’s defense had sought to dismiss his murder indictment altogether because he faces federal charges for the same killing – an argument the judge rejected in his ruling Tuesday as premature.

Luigi Mangione’s attorneys say prosecutors wrongfully obtained his medical records

The judge also ruled Manhattan prosecutors will be unable to use any evidence they obtained from Aetna. Mangione’s attorneys had argued their client’s medical records were wrongfully obtained from the insurance carrier.

Finally, Carro scheduled a hearing to weigh another defense request to suppress evidence seized at the time of his arrest and statements he made to law enforcement. A hearing on that matter will be held on December 1 – almost one year to the day that prosecutors say Mangione fatally shot Thompson as the executive walked toward a hotel hosting UnitedHealthcare’s annual investor conference in Midtown Manhattan.

The subsequent dayslong manhunt captured national attention as investigators shared details of Mangione’s alleged writings and the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” written on bullets and shell casings found at the scene.

The shooting was part of a surge of politically motivated attacks across the US, including last week’s assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on a college campus in Utah.

Supporters have flocked to Mangione’s court hearings, often wearing green clothes and carrying signs, and Tuesday was no different.

Several dozen people lined up outside the Manhattan criminal courthouse in hopes of getting inside the hearing. A group of demonstrators also gathered to show support for Mangione, including one woman who wore green head-to-toe, donning a shirt patterned with the face of the Luigi video game character from Nintendo’s “Super Mario Bros.”

When they heard news the terrorism charges were dropped, the crowd outside the courthouse erupted into cheers. Mangione’s attorneys, Karen and Marc Agnifilo, briefly thanked the protesters after Tuesday’s hearing.

Mangione has raised more than $1.2 million in an online fundraiser since his arrest last December, where donations are as small as $5. Additional donations, including several of $100 or more, poured in after the hearing.

No evidence of terroristic intent, judge says

Mangione was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury last December on 11 counts, including first-degree murder and second-degree murder as a crime of terrorism, along with other weapon and forgery charges.

The first-degree murder charge alleged he killed the executive “in furtherance of an act of terrorism,” which is legally defined as an intent to intimidate or coerce the civilian population or a government unit.

Mangione’s defense had argued for the terror-related murder charges to be tossed in part because crimes of terrorism, as defined in New York state legislation, refer to attacks on multiple civilians, not a shooting of a single individual.

Carro evidently agreed.

Prosecutors had tried pointing to two cases – the 1994 shooting of a van full of Hasidic yeshiva students on the Brooklyn Bridge, and the 1997 shooting from the observation deck of the Empire State Building – as terroristic acts that ended with just one deceased victim.

But those comparisons with Thompson’s killing, Carro wrote, were “misplaced.” Though only one person was killed in each of those cases, multiple people were wounded, and the perpetrators had indicated much broader motivations for the acts: In the case of the Empire State shooting, the gunman was seeking revenge on behalf of Palestinians, Carro wrote, while the Brooklyn Bridge shooter was specifically targeting Jews.

“The defendant’s targeted killing of one individual – although abhorrent and despicable – is not ‘comparable,’” Carro wrote on Mangione.

Carro’s decision, said Jackson, indicates the judge looked closely at the New York terrorism statute to determine what exactly it was meant to address. The judge noted the statute was passed days after the 9/11 attacks, and the statute specifically cites that attack, along with the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building and others, as examples of terrorism.

“The judge really wanted to get a feel for what this law in New York state is all about, and what is it trying to address?” said Jackson. “Is it trying to address a single, solitary killing? … We have laws that exist on the books that address one life. We want, from a broader perspective, to look at why, when we have a murder statute, do we need terrorism statutes? And is it designed for this?”

Carro found that Mangione did not intend to influence or coerce a civilian population, an element required by the state terrorism statute.

Writings recovered from Mangione’s backpack during his arrest “make clear that Mr. Mangione was not looking to terrorize any community,” his attorneys wrote. Mangione never publicly released his private writings, which address his views on health care and include a letter addressed to the FBI, which his attorneys say proves he didn’t intend to cause wide intimidation of a population.

They also blamed law enforcement for leaking his writings and calling them a “manifesto.”

“This would have been an alleged murder of a man outside a hotel. Instead, the police leaked what was written on the bullets; the police leaked Mr. Mangione’s alleged writings; and the police called these alleged writings a manifesto – a term synonymous with terrorism. None of this was done by Mr. Mangione. It was law enforcement that created the air of terrorism surrounding this alleged crime and who now seek to blame Mr. Mangione for the hysteria and fear they created.”

Luigi Mangione’s diary reveals the motive for killing United Healthcare’s CEO, prosecutors say

Prosecutors said in their response filing that Mangione’s calculated assassination of Thompson, the CEO of the nation’s largest health insurance company whom he had no personal connection to, was meant to “violently broadcast a social and political message to the public at large.” They also pointed to the fear felt by some UnitedHealthcare employees after Thompson’s killing.

Carro, however, ruled that employees of one company did not constitute a “civilian population” as described in state law. He also noted federal prosecutors had not charged Mangione with crimes of terrorism, even though the federal statute “served as a model” for New York state’s statute.

“While the defendant was clearly expressing an animus toward UHC, and the health care industry generally, it does not follow that his goal was to ‘intimidate and coerce a civilian population,’” Carro wrote, “and indeed, there was no evidence presented of such a goal.”

Carro acknowledged any killing will “have a chilling effect,” said Jackson. “But does that, in and of itself, mean that you intended to really harm or intimidate or influence the entirety of the population? And the judge concluded it does not.”

“This has nothing to do with coercing an entire population. It has to do with (Mangione’s) disdain for that particular industry,” Jackson said, referring to the health insurance industry.

Defense cited double jeopardy

The judge also found Tuesday that the twin state and federal prosecutions of Mangione did not yet present a violation of the Constitution’s double jeopardy clause, which Mangione’s attorneys had cited in a bid to have the state charges dismissed.

Mangione’s attorneys said it was unprecedented and untenable for Mangione to defend himself in both cases at the same time. The defense motion to dismiss the indictment cited past prosecutions of high-profile mass shooters when state prosecutors deferred to their federal counterparts or declined to add state charges to the mix.

Federal and state officials have said the state’s case will go first, which his attorneys have strongly opposed because the possible penalty is “less serious” than the federal death sentence he faces.

The defense motion accused the district attorney’s office and federal prosecutors of “colluding to obstruct Mr. Mangione’s ability to meaningfully defend himself.”

Luigi Mangione’s attorneys say prosecutors wrongfully obtained his medical records

Carro was unpersuaded. In his ruling Tuesday, the judge cited US Supreme Court precedent that found the same criminal act can be subject to prosecution by “two sovereigns,” and wrote that the defendant’s motion to dismiss based on double jeopardy was premature.

The judge similarly shrugged off a request by Mangione’s defense that he allow the federal death penalty case to proceed first. They had argued a conviction in a highly publicized prosecution could make it impossible to find an impartial jury in a later federal trial.

Prosecutors balked at the defense’s asserted concern over publicity, pointing to Mangione’s regularly updated website about the case maintained by his defense team and the GiveSendGo donation page.

Indicating he expected the state case to span about two months, Carro wrote any fears the state case would prejudice Mangione’s federal trial were “merely speculative,” noting it could take several years before the federal case goes to trial.

When Mangione next appears in court in December, the court will hear the defense’s request to suppress any evidence found in the backpack, including the gun, loaded magazine, and his writings, which reveal Mangione’s detailed thinking before the shooting, according to a previous court filing. They also moved to suppress any statements Mangione made to law enforcement after his December 9 arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, until December 19, when he was extradited to New York.

Manhattan prosecutors had defended the actions and said they’re open to the defense request for Carro to hold hearings about whether those statements and the materials recovered from his backpack should be kept out of his trial.(CNN)

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