Source: https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/16/us/luigi-mangione-ny-court-hearing
Mangione’s defense had argued the terror-related charges should be tossed because crimes of terrorism as defined in New York state legislation refer to attacks on multiple civilians, not a shooting of a single individual.
“While the People place great emphasis on defendant’s ‘ideological’ motive, there is no indication in the statute that a murder committed for ideological reasons (in this case, the defendant’s apparent desire to draw attention to what he perceived as inequities or greed within the American health care system), fits within the definition of terrorism without establishing the necessary element of an in tent to intimidate or coerce,” Judge Gregory Carro wrote in his decision Tuesday.
The jude said that a murder for ideological reasons does not, in itself, constitute terrorism. A manifesto is about ideology, so having one is not an automatic terrorism charge.
Murder to intimate or affect a change in behavior of a large group would be. But there should be evidence to this effect, which the police claimed they had.
A manifesto is just a statement of intent. What it contains can vary substantially by author. But, critically, you need to prove the person committing the crime produced the document.
I wonder if they failed to do this and got the document tossed. At that point, you’re coasting on the suspect’s social media history and hoping the judge gets Bad Vibes of casual comments.