Nov. 12, 2025:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Attorneys in the case of a man charged with killing a top Minnesota Democratic lawmaker and her husband said Wednesday (Nov. 12, 2025) that prosecutors have turned over a massive amount of evidence to the defense, and that his lawyers need more time to review it.
Federal prosecutor Harry Jacobs told the court that investigators have provided substantially all of the evidence they have collected against Vance Boelter. He’s pleaded not guilty to murder in the killing of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and to attempted murder in the shootings of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife. Some evidence, such as lab reports, continues to come in.
Federal defender Manny Atwal said at the status conference that the evidence includes over 130,000 pages of PDF documents, over 800 hours of audio and video recordings, and over 2,000 photographs from what authorities have called the largest hunt for a suspect in Minnesota history.
Atwal said her team has spent close to 110 hours just downloading the material — not reviewing it — and that they’re still evaluating the evidence, a process she said has gone slowly due to the federal government shutdown.
“That’s not unusual for a complex case but it is lot of information for us to review,” Atwal told Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster.
Jacobs said he didn’t have a timeline for when the Department of Justice would decide whether to seek the death penalty against Boelter. The decision will be up to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Foster scheduled the next status conference for Feb. 12 and asked prosecutors to keep the defense and court updated in the meantime about their death penalty decision. She did not set a trial date.
Hortman and her husband, Mark, and Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot by a man who came to their suburban homes in the early hours of June 14, disguised as a police officer and driving a fake squad car.
Boelter, 58, was captured near his home in rural Green Isle late the next day. He faces federal and state charges including murder and attempted murder in what prosecutors have called a political assassination.
Boelter, who was wearing orange and yellow jail clothing, said nothing during the nine-minute hearing.
Minnesota abolished capital punishment in 1911 and has never had a federal death penalty case. But the Trump administration is pushing for greater use of capital punishment.
Boelter’s attorney has not commented on the substance of the allegations. His motivations remain murky and statements he has made to some media haven’t been fully clear. Friends have described him as a politically conservative evangelical Christian, and occasional preacher and missionary.
Boelter claimed to the conservative outlet Blaze News in August that he never intended to shoot anyone that night but that his plans went horribly wrong.
He told Blaze in a series of hundreds of texts via his jail’s messaging system that he went to the Hoffmans’ home to make citizens’ arrests over what he called his two-year undercover investigation into 400 deaths from the COVID-19 vaccine that he believed were being covered up by the state.
But he told Blaze he opened fire when the Hoffmans and their adult daughter tried to push him out the door and spoiled his plan. He did not explain why went on to allegedly shoot the Hortmans and their golden retriever, Gilbert, who had to be euthanized.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said when she announced Boelter’s indictment on state charges in August that she gave no credence to the claims Boelter had made from jail.
In other recent developments, a Sibley County judge last month granted Boelter’s wife a divorce.
Aug. 7, 2025:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The man charged with killing the top Democrat in the Minnesota House and her husband, and wounding a state senator and his wife, pleaded not guilty Thursday (Aug. 7, 2025) in federal court.
Vance Boelter, 58, of Green Isle, Minnesota, was indicted July 15 on six counts of murder, stalking and firearms violations. The murder charges could carry the federal death penalty, though prosecutors say that decision is several months away.
One of Boelter’s attorneys entered the plea on Boelter’s behalf during Thursday’s arraignment. Boelter was in the courtroom and wore an orange sweatshirt and yellow pants. He spoke briefly to affirm that he understood the charges and thanked the judge.
When prosecutors announced the indictment, they released a rambling handwritten letter they say Boelter wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel in which he confessed to the June 14 shootings of Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. However, the letter doesn’t make clear why he targeted the Hortmans or Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, who survived.
Boelter’s federal defender, Manny Atwal, said at the time that the weighty charges did not come as a surprise, but she has not commented on the substance of the allegations or any defense strategies.
Thursday’s hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster also served as a case management conference in which Foster issued a revised schedule with various deadlines, though no trial date has been set.
Prosecutors have moved to designate the proceedings as a “complex case” so that standard speedy trial requirements won’t apply, saying both sides will need plenty of time to review the voluminous evidence.
“The investigation of this case arose out of the largest manhunt in Minnesota’s history,” they wrote. “Accordingly, the discovery to be produced by the government will include a substantial amount of investigative material and reports from more than a dozen different law enforcement agencies at the federal, state, and local levels.”
They said the evidence will include potentially thousands of hours of video footage, tens of thousands of pages of responses to dozens of grand jury subpoenas, and data from numerous electronic devices seized during the investigation.
Foster on Thursday agreed that the case is complex and excluded it from speedy trial requirements.
Boelter’s motivations remain murky. Friends have described him as an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views who had been struggling to find work. Authorities said Boelter made long lists of politicians in Minnesota and other states — all or mostly Democrats.
In a series of cryptic notes to The New York Times through his jail’s electronic messaging service, Boelter suggested his actions were partly rooted in the Christian commandment to love one’s neighbor. “Because I love my neighbors prior to June 14th I conducted a 2 year long undercover investigation,” he wrote.
In messages published earlier by the New York Post, Boelter insisted the shootings had nothing to do with his opposition to abortion or his support for President Donald Trump, but he declined to elaborate.
“There is little evidence showing why he turned to political violence and extremism,” the acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Joe Thompson, told reporters last month. He also reiterated that prosecutors consider Hortman’s killing a “political assassination.”
Prosecutors say Boelter was disguised as a police officer and driving a fake squad car early June 14 when he went to the Hoffmans’ home in the Minneapolis suburb of Champlin. He shot the senator nine times, and his wife eight times, officials said.
Boelter later went to the Hortmans’ home in nearby Brooklyn Park and killed both of them, authorities said. Their dog was so gravely injured that he had to be euthanized. Boelter surrendered the next night.
July 15, 2025:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal grand jury indicted a man Tuesday (July 15, 2025) on charges that he fatally shot a prominent Minnesota state representative and her husband and seriously wounded a state senator and his wife while he was allegedly disguised as a police officer.
The indictment handed up lists murder, stalking and firearms charges against Vance Boelter. The murder counts in the deaths of former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, could carry the federal death penalty.
“This political assassination, the likes of which have never occurred here in the state of Minnesota, has shook our state at a foundational level,” acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said.
He said a decision on whether to seek the death penalty “will not come for several months” and will be up to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Minnesota abolished its state death penalty in 1911, but President Donald Trump’s administration says it intends to be aggressive in seeking capital punishment for eligible federal crimes.
Prosecutors initially charged Boelter with the same counts. But under federal court rules they needed a grand jury indictment to take the case to trial.
Prosecutors say Boelter, 57, who has lived in rural Sibley County south of Minneapolis, was driving a fake squad car, wearing a realistic rubber mask that covered his head and wearing tactical gear around 2 a.m. on June 14 when he went to the home of Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, in the Minneapolis suburb of Champlin. He allegedly shot the senator nine times, and Yvette Hoffman eight times, but they survived.
Prosecutors allege he then stopped at the homes of two other lawmakers. One, in Maple Grove, wasn’t home while a police officer may have scared him off from the second, in New Hope. Boelter then allegedly went to the Hortmans’ home in nearby Brooklyn Park and killed both of them. Their dog was so gravely injured that he had to be euthanized.
Brooklyn Park police, who had been alerted to the shootings of the Hoffmans, arrived at the Hortman home around 3:30 a.m., moments before the gunman opened fire on the couple, the complaint said. Boelter allegedly fled and left behind his car, which contained notebooks listing dozens of Democratic officials as potential targets with their home addresses, as well as five guns and a large quantity of ammunition.
Law enforcement officers finally captured Boelter about 40 hours later, about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from his rural home in Green Isle, after what authorities called the largest search for a suspect in Minnesota history.
Sen. Hoffman is out of the hospital and is now at a rehabilitation facility, his family announced last week, adding he has a long road to recovery. Yvette Hoffman was released a few days after the attack. Former President Joe Biden visited the senator in the hospital when he was in town for the Hortmans’ funeral.
Friends have described Boelter as an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views who had been struggling to find work. At a hearing July 3, Boelter said he was “looking forward to the facts about the 14th coming out.”
In an interview published by the New York Post on Saturday, Boelter insisted the shootings had nothing to do with his opposition to abortion or his support for Trump, but he declined to discuss why he allegedly killed the Hortmans and wounded the Hoffmans.
“You are fishing and I can’t talk about my case…I’ll say it didn’t involve either the Trump stuff or pro life,” Boelter wrote in a message to the newspaper via the jail’s messaging system.
Boelter also faces state murder and attempted murder charges in Hennepin County, but the federal case will go first.
Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris joined mourners at the Hortmans’ funeral June 28. Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate on the 2024 Democratic presidential ticket, eulogized Melissa Hortman as “the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history.”
Hortman led the House from 2019 until January and was a driving force as Democrats passed an ambitious list of liberal priorities in 2023. She yielded the speakership to a Republican in a power-sharing deal after the November elections left the House tied, and she took the title speaker emerita.
July 3, 2025:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The man accused of killing former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and wounding a state senator and his wife, is due back in court (July 3, 2025) after a week’s delay. Prosecutors allege 57-year-old Vance Boelter carried out the June 14 attacks disguised as a police officer. Authorities say he also targeted other Democrats. Boelter’s lawyer argued that he’d been sleep-deprived due to harsh jail conditions, and won a delay in proceedings last week. Boelter could face the federal death penalty, though no decision has been made. The attacks have been described as a political assassination and a threat to democracy.
June 18, 2025:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The man charged with killing a prominent Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another could face the death penalty, something that is a rarity for Minnesota but could become more common under the Trump administration. The state abolished capital punishment in 1911, and its last execution was a botched hanging in 1906. But federal prosecutors announced charges against Vance Boelter on Monday (June 16, 2025) that can carry the death penalty. Boelter is accused of fatally shooting former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday. Authorities say he also shot and wounded another Democrat, Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette,
Story
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The man charged with killing a prominent Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another could face something that is a rarity for Minnesota but could become more common under the Trump administration: the death penalty.
Minnesota abolished capital punishment in 1911, and the state’s last execution was a botched hanging in 1906. But federal prosecutors announced charges against Vance Boelter on Monday (June 16, 2025) that can carry the death penalty.
It is not unheard of for state and federal prosecutors to both pursue criminal cases for the same offense, especially in high-profile matters.
In this case federal authorities essentially grabbed the lead from the state prosecutor, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty. Boelter had been scheduled to make his first court appearance on state charges Monday, but instead marshals took him from the county jail to the U.S. courthouse in St. Paul, where he appeared on the more serious federal charges.
Boelter is accused of fatally shooting former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs. Before that, authorities say, he also shot and wounded another Democrat, Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, who lived a few miles away. He surrendered Sunday night after what authorities have called the largest search in Minnesota history.
The federal case
Two of the six federal counts can carry the death penalty, something federal prosecutors have not sought in a Minnesota-based case since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.
“Will we seek the death penalty? It’s too early to tell. That is one of the options,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said Monday at a news conference where he revealed new details of what he described as a meticulously planned attack. They included allegations that Boelter also stopped at the homes of two other lawmakers that night and had dozens of other Democrats as potential targets, including officials in other states.
Boelter’s federal defenders have declined to comment on the case, and he has not entered a plea.
On her first day in office in February, Attorney General Pam Bondi lifted a moratorium on federal executions that was imposed under the Biden administration in 2021. Only three defendants remain on federal death row after Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison.
Bondi has since authorized federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in at least three cases, including against Luigi Mangione for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. In the other two cases, the Justice Department has said it is seeking the death penalty against defendants charged with killing fellow prison inmates.
President Donald Trump’s first administration carried out 13 federal executions, more than the administration of any other president in modern history.
The state’s case
The federal intervention in Boelter’s case appeared to irritate Moriarty, the county’s former chief public defender, who was elected on a police reform and racial justice platform in 2022 after the police killing of George Floyd.
At a news conference Monday to announce the state charges, Moriarty gave only vague answers in response to questions about the interplay between the federal and state investigations. But she acknowledged “there’s a tension” and said federal officials “can speak for themselves.”
Moriarty said she intends to press forward in state court regardless and to seek an indictment for first-degree murder for the killings of the Hortmans, which would carry a mandatory sentence of life without parole.
As evidence of the tensions, the county attorney refused to clarify how Boelter’ first hearings would play out. Court records show that Boelter was called for a first appearance in Hennepin County on Monday and that because he was not there as he was in federal custody, the judge issued a bench warrant as a formality, as requested by prosecutors.
Thompson told reporters that the federal case “does not nullify the state charges. They remain in place. … My expectation based on prior cases is the federal case, the federal charges, will be litigated first, but the state charges won’t necessarily go anywhere.”
On Wednesday, Moriarty said she wants the chance to try Boelter first and said her office has been in frequent contact with his office.
“While our preference would be to proceed with our prosecution immediately, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has the legal authority to determine the order in which Mr. Boelter is prosecuted,” she said in a statement. “Both federal court and state court have jurisdiction in this matter. The state charges have not been dismissed — nor are there any plans to dismiss the charges.”
Officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
What usually happens
“Usually murder cases are overwhelmingly handled in state courts,” said Mark Osler, a death penalty expert at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis. “Clearly this is something of national interest. And that seemed to play a role in the decision that the Justice Department is making here.”
Osler, who formerly served as Moriarty’s deputy county attorney and head of her criminal division, as well as assistant U.S. attorney in Detroit, acknowledged that there are often tensions between state and federal prosecutors.
“There’s no doubt that it’s complicated,” Osler said. “And it’s hard to avoid the sense of the older sibling grabbing something away from the younger sibling.”
What’s next
If federal officials do pursue the death penalty, Osler said, they will face an unusual challenge: “a jury pool drawn from the citizens of a state that has rejected the death penalty for over 100 years. It’s not the same as choosing people in a state where there’s a history of support for the death penalty, such as Texas.”
After his federal court appearance, Boelter was taken to the Sherburne County Jail in suburban Elk River, where federal prisoners are often held.
Boelter’s next federal court appearance is June 27. He does not have any further appearances scheduled in state court.
“There’s a natural competitiveness that occurs sometimes between jurisdictions, but you have to hope that in the end, they’re all facing the same way where there’s something as important to public safety as this case is,” Osler said.
June 16, 2025:
BELLE PLAINE, Minn. (AP) — The man suspected of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another crawled to officers in order to surrender Sunday (June 15, 2025) after they found him in the woods near his home, bringing an end to a massive, nearly two-day search that put the entire state on edge.
Vance Boelter was arrested and charged with two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. Jail records show he was scheduled to appear in court Monday afternoon.
Boelter is accused of posing as a police officer and fatally shooting former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs.
Authorities say he also shot Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette. They were injured at their residence about 9 miles (about 15 kilometers) away.
“One man’s unthinkable actions have altered the state of Minnesota,” Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said at a news conference after Boelter’s arrest.
The search for Boelter was the “largest manhunt in the state’s history,” Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said. It began when Brooklyn Park officers went to check on Hortman’s home and saw her husband gunned down before the shooter fled.
Authorities on Sunday spotted a vehicle Boelter had been using abandoned in rural Sibley County, where he lived, and a police officer reported that he believed he saw Boelter running into the woods, Bruley said. Police called in 20 different tactical teams, divvying up the area and searching for him.
During the search, police said they confirmed someone was in the woods and searched for hours, using a helicopter and officers on foot, until they found Boelter. He gave himself up to police, crawling out to officers in the woods before he was handcuffed and taken into custody in a field, authorities said.
Jail records show Boelter was booked into the Hennepin County Jail early Monday and included two mug shots of Boelter wearing an orange prison shirt.
A targeted attack
Drew Evans, superintendent of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said the violence likely would’ve continued had Brooklyn Park officers not checked on Hortman’s home, causing Boelter to flee.
The Hoffmans were attacked first at their home in Champlin early Saturday. A criminal complaint unsealed after Boelter’s arrest indicated their adult daughter called 911 to say a masked person had come to the door and shot her parents.
After police in nearby Brooklyn Park learned that a lawmaker had been shot, they sent patrol officers to check on the Hortmans’ home.
Brooklyn Park police officers arrived just in time to see Boelter shoot Mark Hortman through the open door of the home and exchanged gunfire with Boelter, who fled into the home before escaping, the complaint said. Melissa Hortman was found dead inside, according to the document.
Authorities said Boelter posed as a police officer, even allegedly altering a vehicle to make it look like a police car.
A Minnesota lawmaker said that Hortman’s dog had to be euthanized after being shot in the attack.
“Her children had to put down him after learning their parents had been murdered, ” Rep. Erin Koegel posted on the social media platform X. “Gilbert wasn’t going to survive. Melissa loved that dog. She trained him as a service dog. He flunked out of school and she was so happy he failed so he could stay!”
No details on motive
Authorities did not give a motive for the shootings as they announced Boelter’s arrest.
A list of about 70 names was found in writings recovered from the fake police vehicle at the crime scene, said two law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation. The writings and list of names included prominent state and federal lawmakers and community leaders, along with abortion rights advocates and information about health care facilities, according to the officials.
A Minnesota official told AP lawmakers who had been outspoken in favor of abortion rights were on the list. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.
Boelter is a former political appointee who served on the same state workforce development board as Hoffman, records show, though it was not clear if or how well they knew each other.
Just hours after the shootings, Boelter texted friends to apologize for his actions, though he didn’t say what he had done.
“I’m going to be gone for a while. May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn’t gone this way,” he wrote in messages viewed by the AP.
An escalation in political violence
The shootings come as political leaders nationwide have been attacked, harassed and intimidated amid deep political divisions. Lawmakers said they were disturbed by the attacks as Twin Cities residents mourned.
On Sunday, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar shared a statement from Yvette Hoffman expressing appreciation for the outpouring of public support.
“John is enduring many surgeries right now and is closer every hour to being out of the woods,” Yvette Hoffman said in a text that Klobuchar posted on social media. “He took 9 bullet hits. I took 8 and we are both incredibly lucky to be alive. We are gutted and devastated by the loss of Melissa and Mark.”
Brightly colored flowers and small American flags were placed Sunday on the gray marbled stone of the Minnesota State Capitol along with a photo of the Hortmans.
Pam Stein came with flowers and knelt by the memorial. An emotional Stein called Hortman an “absolute powerhouse” and “the real unsung hero of Minnesota government.”
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