Man charged with killing prominent lawmaker could face a rarity for
Minnesota: the death penalty
[June 18, 2025]
By STEVE KARNOWSKI
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 that can carry the
death penalty.
It’s 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.
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In this courtroom sketch, Vance Boelter, right, who is charged with
killing one Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another, is seen at a
federal court hearing Monday, June 16, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn.
(Cedric Hohnstadt via AP)
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. Her office did not immediately respond to a request
for further comment Tuesday.
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.
“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.
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.”
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.
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Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington
contributed.
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