Luigi Mangione has officially dodged the federal death penalty — not because the case disappeared, but because federal prosecutors decided not to challenge a judge’s ruling that wiped out the capital charge against him. In other words, the government folded instead of fighting back. Bold strategy.

In a letter released Friday, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District said it will not appeal U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett’s January 30 ruling that dismissed the death penalty–eligible murder charge against Mangione. He is accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson on December 4, 2024.

Mangione, 27, may have escaped capital punishment, but he is far from walking free. He still faces two federal stalking charges, with jury selection set for September 8 and opening statements scheduled for October. And that’s just the federal side of things.

On the state level, Mangione is staring down a separate murder trial in June that could land him in prison for life. He has pleaded not guilty to Thompson’s killing, despite surveillance footage showing Thompson walking on a Manhattan sidewalk when a gunman approached from behind and opened fire. Cameras, it turns out, don’t forget.

Judge Garnett ruled that prosecutors could not charge Mangione with federal murder through use of a gun without an underlying “crime of violence,” saying her decision was based on precedent from the Supreme Court. In her words, lower courts are now forced into legal gymnastics that focus not on what actually happened, but on the least serious version of what a crime could hypothetically be. Justice by imagination — always comforting.

So while Mangione avoids the federal death penalty, he remains locked in a long legal road with life in prison still very much on the table.

The silver lining? The system is still moving forward, the case is still alive, and accountability is still in play — which is exactly what victims and their families deserve. Justice may take time, but it hasn’t packed up and gone home.