A US judge has dismissed key federal charges against a man accused of killing a health insurance executive in New York. The ruling removes the possibility of a death sentence.

A US judge has dismissed key federal charges against a man accused of killing a health insurance executive in New York.

The ruling removes the possibility of a death sentence.

A New York federal judge has dismissed murder and weapons charges against Luigi M., accused of killing UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson, ruling that prosecutors cannot pursue those counts under federal law.

The decision has stripped prosecutors of the ability to seek the death penalty in the federal case, while leaving M.

Garnett issued the decision on Friday in federal court in Manhattan.

Garnett has said the federal murder and weapons charges were legally incompatible with two stalking counts also brought against M.

She has left the stalking charges in place, which carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Garnett wrote that she had acted to "foreclose the death penalty as an available punishment to be considered by the jury" as it weighs whether to convict M.

She also dismissed a gun charge but left stalking charges in place, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Garnett said prosecutors could not pursue capital punishment because they failed to show M.

Killed Thompson while committing another "crime of violence," writing that stalking does not meet that definition under existing case law and legal precedent.

In a partial win for prosecutors, Garnett ruled they may use evidence seized from M.'s backpack at the time of his arrest, including a 9 mm handgun and a notebook in which authorities say he purportedly described an intention to "wack" a health insurance executive.

Defense lawyers had argued the search was illegal because police had not yet obtained a warrant.

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For India and other large public systems, such updates are useful when they connect global or national figures with practical questions of access, affordability, prevention, district readiness and communication to vulnerable groups.