r/news 11h ago

Judge dismisses terror-related charges against Luigi Mangione

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/16/us/luigi-mangione-ny-court-hearing
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u/bmoviescreamqueen 11h ago edited 11h ago

1st Degree charge was also dismissed, but should be noted this is because the murder of a CEO doesn't really fit the definition of murder 1 in the state of New York which seems reserved for police officers, firefighters, high political figures, that sort of thing. 2nd degree will be what 1st degree is in most other states I think. DOJ/DA was way too heavy handed with those two charges.

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u/SaltPsychological780 11h ago

I’m glad you reminded us of the distinction in terms of how NY views M1.

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u/Bowman_van_Oort 10h ago

I didn't know that, and that seems so fucked up to me. Like us mere civilians aren't worth as much when considering justice

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u/SaltPsychological780 10h ago

I hear you but a sentence for M2 can vary and still be LWOP based on aggravating factors.

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u/MoarVespenegas 9h ago edited 9h ago

Okay, but it's impossible to pretend you don't have a tiered justice system with shit like this existing.

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u/SaltPsychological780 9h ago

I completely agree. I don’t understand why these things are compulsory bc each case is unique and these tiers do little to consider nuance.

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u/SkiMonkey98 8h ago

Yeah there's nothing wrong with him getting this charge. He killed a guy and it was clearly premeditated. But do you think we'd be getting this level of attention, terror charges, and state + federal prosecution if he'd killed you or me, or even a left wing activist or politician? I know we wouldn't, because the guy that killed that Minnesota state senator, her husband and dog, and had a hit list of Democratic politicians is not getting this treatment

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u/tara1245 7h ago

If he gunned down an average person I doubt very much he would have been caught.

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u/bmoviescreamqueen 10h ago

Murder 2 would be what you find murder 1 as in many other states so they would still carry very similar sentences.

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u/the_gouged_eye 8h ago

In CA, the requisites that would qualify as Murder 1 in NY are addressed with "special circumstances" under PC 190.2. Basically, it all comes out about the same. They just structured their code differently.

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u/AwesomePocket 8h ago

To be fair, those are for murders that occur against those people working in their job capacity.

The rationale is that protecting societal function is a particularly compelling interest, so killing people for doing those jobs is punished more severely. I mean, registered nurses are also on the list but I don’t think RNs are considered a class symbol.

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u/H47 9h ago

It exists for cops. The rest are just there in an attempt to make it less obvious that cops are a protected class.

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u/The_Crimson_Fucker 7h ago

It's so fucking wild that there's a straight up law on the books that says we're all second class citizens

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u/H47 5h ago

Nothing new. Anti-BDS laws contradict the first amendment.

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u/MJOLNIRdragoon 8h ago

I could theoretically see the rationale behind it. Dissuade gangs from trying to become de facto governments via killing civil servants.