Why Mangione escaped terrorism charge: Andrew McCarthy explains on 'The Glenn Beck Program'
Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City last year, caught a break this week when a New York judge dismissed one of the charges in the state case. Former Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy joined "The Glenn Beck Program" on Tuesday morning to explain why.
Judge Gregory Carro dropped the terrorism charge against Mangione, concluding that there was "no evidence presented" that he broke the state's terrorism law.
'I just don't think it trivialized the murder to say that it's not a terrorism crime.'
The crime of terrorism, under New York law, is defined as an "intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policy of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion, or affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination, or kidnapping."
"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,' and indeed, there was no evidence presented of such a goal," Carro wrote. The judge mentioned that federal prosecutors did not charge Mangione with terrorism offenses.
However, Carro stated that there was sufficient evidence that the suspect "murdered Brian Thompson in a premeditated and calculated execution." As such, the second-degree murder charge still stands, which carries a potential penalty of 15 years to life in prison.
"To prove terrorism, you have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt an intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population," McCarthy told Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck. "What the judge said is, this was very narrowly targeted at the health care industry and this particular health care executive."
"I just don't think it trivialized the murder to say that it's not a terrorism crime," he continued.
McCarthy also explained why Mangione is facing second-degree murder instead of first-degree murder. He stated that in the 1990s, former New York Gov. George Pataki (R) wanted to revise the state's capital murder statute to revive the death penalty.
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"This ultimately was not a successful effort," McCarthy remarked. "What they did was, they took the things that you could get the death penalty for, which in New York, were only things like killing a police officer or killing a prison guard in the prison, and they made those the only murder in the first degree."
"They were trying to clean the statute in a way that murder one would be revived as capital murder," he continued. "And all other murder was going to be second-degree murder."
Mangione's case, therefore, would not qualify for first-degree murder under New York law.
McCarthy believes that if the suspect is convicted in the federal system, he will likely get the death penalty.
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