Did Luigi mangione only get charged with stalikg
Executive summary
Luigi Mangione was not charged only with stalking: federal prosecutors initially indicted him on four federal counts — two stalking counts plus a murder count and a firearms count — and state prosecutors in New York and Pennsylvania filed multiple additional charges including state murder and terrorism-related counts [1] [2] [3]. A federal judge later dismissed the federal murder and a related firearms count, leaving the two federal stalking counts in place, but state-level charges remain separate and extensive [4] [5] [3].
1. The original federal indictment: stalking plus murder and a firearms offense
Federal authorities in Manhattan charged Mangione in a complaint and later an indictment that mirrored one another: four federal counts encompassing two counts of interstate stalking that alleged the stalking resulted in death, one count of murder through use of a firearm (carrying potential capital exposure), and one firearms offense tied to the use of a silencer-equipped gun [2] [1] [6].
2. Judge Garnett’s ruling narrowed the federal case but did not erase all charges
On Jan. 30, 2026 U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed the federal murder count and a firearms count — a decision that removed the government’s ability to seek the death penalty in the federal case — while explicitly leaving the two federal stalking counts intact, which themselves carry a maximum penalty that can include life in prison [4] [7] [5].
3. Why the murder and weapons counts were dismissed (legal technicality, not a finding of innocence)
Judge Garnett’s ruling turned on federal statutory definitions and Supreme Court precedent requiring the murder and weapons counts to be predicated on an underlying “crime of violence”; she concluded the stalking statutes as written did not categorically qualify as “crimes of violence” for those specific federal enhancement counts, even as she acknowledged the apparent dissonance between that legal construction and the violent facts alleged by prosecutors [4] [8].
4. State charges remain distinct and broader than the narrowed federal tally
Separate from the federal actions, state prosecutors in New York and Pennsylvania filed their own indictments: reporting shows Mangione faced a combined slate of state charges — including first-degree murder, murder as a crime of terrorism and multiple weapons-related counts — bringing total state and federal counts reported to about 20 across jurisdictions [3] [9] [8].
5. What “only charged with stalking” would mean — and why that description is incomplete
Saying Mangione was “only charged with stalking” is inaccurate in two ways supported by the record: first, at the federal level he was charged with murder and a silencer-related firearms offense in addition to stalking before the judge dismissed the murder and one weapons count [2] [1]; and second, he continues to face significant state murder and weapons charges that were neither dismissed nor converted to stalking-only allegations [3] [8].
6. Next legal steps and open questions in coverage
Prosecutors may appeal the federal dismissals, and the state cases proceed independently; whether the federal stalking counts ultimately sustain convictions carrying life sentences or whether state murder prosecutions secure convictions remain open questions not resolved by the federal court’s statutory ruling, which addressed legal categorization rather than the underlying factual allegations [4] [5] [3]. The sources do not report a final outcome on appeals or trial verdicts as of the cited accounts [4] [5].