Mangione Avoids Death Penalty Risk as US Won’t Fight Ruling (1)

The Justice Department said it won’t appeal the decision of a New York federal judge to throw out a murder charge against Luigi Mangione, which means he won’t face the death penalty if he’s convicted of killing UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive Brian Thompson.

US District Judge Margaret Garnett ruled in January that prosecutors can’t pursue the capital murder charge, but that a jury could determine if Mangione caused Thompson’s death under two federal stalking laws. If convicted of those crimes, he could face life in prison without possibility of parole.

In a one-page letter Friday to Garnett, a Justice Department ...