{"id":11634,"date":"2025-06-18T08:20:39","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T08:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=11634"},"modified":"2025-06-18T08:20:41","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T08:20:41","slug":"man-charged-with-killing-lawmaker-could-face-rarity-for-minnesota-the-death-penalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=11634","title":{"rendered":"Man charged with killing lawmaker could face rarity for Minnesota: the death penalty"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MINNEAPOLIS — <\/span>The man charged with killing a prominent Minnesota<\/a> 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. <\/p>\n

Minnesota abolished capital punishment in 1911, and the state’s last execution was a botched hanging<\/a> in 1906. But federal prosecutors announced charges against Vance Boelter on Monday that can carry the death penalty.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not unheard of for state and federal prosecutors to both pursue criminal cases for the same offense, especially in high-profile matters.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Boelter is accused of fatally shooting former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman<\/a> 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<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\u201cWill we seek the death penalty? It\u2019s too early to tell. That is one of the options,\u201d Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said Monday at a news conference where he revealed new details<\/a> of what he described as a meticulously planned attack. They included allegations that Boelter also stopped at the homes of two other lawmakers<\/a> that night and had dozens of other Democrats as potential targets<\/a>, including officials in other states<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Boelter\u2019s federal defenders have declined to comment on the case, and he has not entered a plea. <\/p>\n

On her first day in office in February, Attorney General Pam Bondi lifted a moratorium on federal executions<\/a> 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bondi has since authorized federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in at least three cases, including against Luigi Mangione<\/a> for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson<\/a>. In the other two cases, the Justice Department has said it is seeking the death penalty against defendants charged with killing fellow prison inmates.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> first administration carried out 13 federal executions<\/a>, more than the administration of any other president in modern history. <\/p>\n

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<\/a> in 2022 after the police killing of George Floyd<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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 \u201cthere’s a tension\u201d and said federal officials \u201ccan speak for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for further comment Tuesday.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually murder cases are overwhelmingly handled in state courts,\u201d said Mark Osler, a death penalty expert at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis. \u201cClearly this is something of national interest. And that seemed to play a role in the decision that the Justice Department is making here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Osler, who formerly served as Moriarty\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that it\u2019s complicated,\u201d Osler said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s hard to avoid the sense of the older sibling grabbing something away from the younger sibling.\u201d<\/p>\n

If federal officials do pursue the death penalty, Osler said, they will face an unusual challenge: \u201ca jury pool drawn from the citizens of a state that has rejected the death penalty for over 100 years. It\u2019s not the same as choosing people in a state where there\u2019s a history of support for the death penalty, such as Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

After his federal court appearance, Boelter was taken to the Sherburne County Jail in suburban Elk River, where federal prisoners are often held.<\/p>\n

Thompson told reporters that the federal case \u201cdoes 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\u2019t necessarily go anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boelter’s next federal court appearance is June 27. He does not have any further appearances scheduled in state court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a natural competitiveness that occurs sometimes between jurisdictions, but you have to hope that in the end, they\u2019re all facing the same way where there\u2019s something as important to public safety as this case is,\u201d Osler said. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MINNEAPOLIS — 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11634"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11636,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11634\/revisions\/11636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}