Federal prosecutors not seeking death penalty in plea deal with man accused of killing top Minnesota Dem
US prosecutors said Wednesday they will not seek the death penalty as part of a plea agreement with the man charged in the political assassinations of the top Democrat in the Minnesota House along with her husband, as well as the attempted murders of a state senator and his wife.The defendant, Vance Boelter, was scheduled for a change-of-plea hearing Thursday morning in federal court in Minneapolis.“The Attorney General has authorized and directed the government not to seek the death penalty against Defendant Vance Luther Boelter in accordance with the terms delineated in a proposed plea agreement,” assistant US attorneys Bradley M.Endicott and Matthew D.
Forbes wrote in a letter to the court Wednesday.Boelter’s attorneys did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.The court filing did not detail the terms of the plea agreement.Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, and state Sen.
John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, were shot by a man who came to their doors in the early hours of June 14, 2025, disguised as a police officer and driving a fake squad car.The Hortmans’ golden retriever was so gravely injured that he had to be euthanized.Boelter, 58, was captured near his home in rural Green Isle late the next day after what prosecutors have called the largest search for a suspect in Minnesota history.
He faces federal and state murder, attempted murder and other charges.His state case has been on hold pending the resolution of his federal charges.Minnesota abolished capital punishment in 1911 and has never had a federal death penalty case.
While the Trump administration has pushed for greater use of capital punishment, there were questions about whether Boelter’s case would qualify for the death penalty under federal law.Prosecutors have called the attacks political.When they announced the federal indictment in July, they released a rambling handwritten letter they say Boelter wrote to FBI Directo...