Overview

• In a Saturday motion, Luigi Mangione’s lawyers asked a federal judge to bar or dismiss the death penalty prosecution, alleging due process violations including a staged helicopter perp walk, leaks and prejudicial public statements by officials.
• U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett is overseeing the case, prosecutors must respond by Oct. 31, and a federal court appearance is set for Dec. 5 with a potential 2026 trial date to be considered.
• On Sept. 16, New York Justice Gregory Carro threw out two state terrorism counts as legally insufficient, leaving second-degree murder and weapons charges in place ahead of Dec. 1 state hearings.
• Federal counts include interstate stalking and murder through use of a firearm; Attorney General Pam Bondi directed prosecutors in April to seek capital punishment, a move the defense calls unapologetically political and procedurally flawed.
• Prosecutors have warned that sympathy for Mangione has encouraged violent copycats, while Mangione remains held pretrial at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.