Luigi Mangione's Defense Team Says He's Not a Terrorist

Luigi Mangione's defense team says he's not a terrorist, as the feds would have you believe ... and they're telling it to the judge.

The alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is facing a murder as an act of terrorism charge ... but Luigi's attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo is laying out a slew of reasons why they feel the terrorism charge is unwarranted.

In new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Luigi's defense says prosecutors have failed to adequately make the case for the terrorism charge from their indictment ... arguing terroristic intent cannot be inferred from Thompson's murder.

Luigi is pointing to his alleged manifesto ... he says the writings only show a private ideological motive without any specific intent to intimidate a civilian population, which his lawyers say would be necessary to prove terroristic intent.

As we've told you ... Luigi's alleged words make it sound like he had one target and one target only, and he wasn't out to spark mass panic or harm multiple people.

What's more, Luigi's attorneys say, aside from the media attention, the alleged murder here is basically indistinguishable from the more than one hundred firearm murders that occur each year in New York City.

Luigi's fighting the terrorism charge tooth and nail ... and it will be interesting to see if he's able to convince the judge.