Vance Boelter entered a plea of not guilty during his arraignment in federal court Thursday.
The 57-year-old is accused of murdering Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark in the early morning hours of Saturday, June 14, and shooting Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. He is also accused of attempting to shoot the Hoffmans’ daughter, Hope.
“Vance Boelter planned and carried out a night of terror that shook Minnesota to its core,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said. “He carried out targeted political assassinations the likes of which have never been seen in Minnesota.”
Boelter was arrested June 15 near his residence in Green Isle after a 43-hour manhunt — the largest in Minnesota history. A “confession letter” was recovered from his vehicle in which he claimed that he was “trained by U.S. Military people off the books” and that Gov. Tim Walz wanted him to kill U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith.
Thompson described the letter as a “delusion” that “certainly seems designed to excuse his crimes.”
Since his arrest, he has continued to send communications to journalists from jail, claiming that his actions were “citizen arrests” gone “horribly wrong.”
Sen. Hoffman, who is recovering in a rehabilitation facility, said in his first interview last month that he was “just grateful to be alive.”
The shootings have also touched off a debate about security protocols for state lawmakers — and whether law enforcement leaders properly handled the response.
The prosecution’s motion to designate the matter a “complex case” was granted during Thursday’s hearing, the Associated Press reported. This will exempt the case from certain time constraints of the Speedy Trial Act.
“Given the nature of the prosecution and the volume of discovery the government will produce, an enlargement of these time periods serves the interests of the parties and the ends of justice,” prosecutors wrote in court documents.
Boelter could face the death penalty for the murders of Mark and Melissa Hortman.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
