Luigi Mangione won’t face the death penalty for allegedly executing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a Manhattan federal judge ruled Friday — dealing a blow to the Justice Department.

The 27-year-old accused killer will still face the possibility of life in prison without parole if convicted of fatally shooting Thompson in a December 2024 targeted hit on a Midtown sidewalk.

But Judge Margaret Garnett threw out the charges against Mangione that could have led to a rare death penalty trial in New York.

The judge issued her ruling in writing mere minutes before Mangione, shackled by his feet and wearing tan jail scrubs, appeared before her at a pre-trial hearing in Manhattan federal court Friday morning. 

When Garnett read the gist of her ruling out loud in the courtroom, Mangione didn’t appear to have much of a reaction — staring cooly straight ahead before briefly stroking his chin with his left hand.

The jurist found that the death penalty-eligible parts of the case, brought by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, had “legal infirmities,” according to her ruling. 

To bring a capital punishment case, prosecutors needed to show that Mangione had killed Thomspon while committing another “crime of violence.” 

Mangione is charged not only with killing the healthcare insurance executive, but also “stalking” him — yet stalking doesn’t meet the legal definition of a crime of violence, the judge found.

Garnett, a former high-ranking Manhattan federal prosecutor, noted that her ruling “may strike the average person — and indeed many lawyers and judges — as tortured and strange” given the shocking violence that Mangione is accused of carrying out.

But axing the death penalty is the legally correct move, she stressed, writing that “the law must be the court’s only concern.”

Mangione’s lead defense attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, told reporters after the hearing that their camp was “relieved” by the decision.

The embarrassing blow to federal prosecutors comes months after US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the government would take the rare step of seeking the death penalty against Mangione.

The feds could still appeal the ruling, but did not commit to doing so when asked about it in court on Friday. 

DOJ reps in Washington DC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

For now, Mangione’s federal trial is slated to start with jury selection on September 8 — though the judge noted that the date could be pushed if prosecutors appeal her ruling.

A trial date for Mangione’s separate state case, where he also faces life in prison on murder raps, is still up in the air. 

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is pushing for a July trial, which Mangione’s lawyers are contesting.

Garnett separately ruled Friday that federal prosecutors will be able to use the key evidence found in Mangione’s backpack by the Altoona, Pa. cops who busted him five days after Thompson’s slaying, if the case makes it to trial.

Mangione had stored the 3D-printed pistol he allegedly used to kill Thompson in the bag, as well as a notebook in which he described his motivation to “wack (sic)” the insurance bigwig in a targeted hit, prosecutors said.

The Maryland native is being held at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn without bail pending trial. 

He has pleaded not guilty.