Government wants to execute Teresa Youngblut after Vermont shooting that killed border agent, her lawyer says

Boston Globe

2 days ago

The government holds Youngblut responsible in the death of a US border agent and for that, her lawyer disclosed on Tuesday, the government wants to execute her.
At 21, Youngblut is the youngest and probably most unlikely known member of what appears to be
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The members are called Zizians, after its purported leader,
Steven Barth, Youngblut's public defender, said in US District Court in Burlington that federal death penalty charges will be lodged against his client in what he called 'short order.'
He declined to elaborate when surrounded by reporters after Tuesday's routine hearing, a position of 'no comment' he has maintained since Youngblut first appeared in court in January, days after her companion, Felix Bauckholt, and Border Patrol agent David 'Chris' Maland died in a hail of gunfire that the government says began when Youngblut drew a gun after a traffic stop and started firing.
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The apparent decision by federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Youngblut isn't a surprise.
In a February memo announcing the moratorium against seeking federal death penalty charges under the Biden administration was over, Attorney General
Youngblut was wounded in the gunfire, which began after Border Patrol agents pulled over the car she was driving on Interstate 91 in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, about 10 miles south of the Canadian border.
The government says Bauckholt, a German national who identified as female and went by the name of Ophelia, began drawing a weapon but was shot dead by an agent before she could fire.
So far, Youngblut has been charged with using a firearm while 'assaulting, resisting and opposing, impeding, intimidating, and interfering with a US Border Patrol agent while he was engaged in official duties.'
The government's charging document also charges that Youngblut 'carried, brandished and discharged a firearm.'
But, to date, prosecutors have not explicitly said Youngblut fired the shot that killed Maland. Last month, officials from US Customs and Border Protection released a
The summary said the lone agent who returned fire discharged 'approximately eight rounds.'
So far, the government has remained tight-lipped about whether Youngblut shot Maland.
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But that distinction won't make a difference if the government moves to seek the death penalty, according to David P. Hoose, a Massachusetts attorney who has worked on 17 death penalty cases, 15 of them federal and most of them in New England.
Hoose, a partner at Strehorn, Ryan & Hoose in Northampton, said that in
If, for argument's sake, prosecutors can't definitively assert that Youngblut fired the fatal shot, Hoose said, 'it creates additional hurdles for prosecutors and maybe some qualms in a juror looking for a reason not to give the death penalty.'
As for finding jurors in mostly liberal Vermont willing to sentence someone to death, that's another potential hurdle for prosecutors, Hoose said.
Vermont last executed someone in 1954, and the state outlawed capital punishment in 1972. Polls show most Vermonters oppose capital punishment.
The US attorney's office in Vermont, which is prosecuting Youngblut, has said it was
Youngblut's parents have attended their daughter's hearings, but have declined to speak to reporters. Last year, they
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They seemed to be onto something. Records show Youngblut and Maximilian Snyder, who
Like other members of the Zizian cult, Youngblut and Snyder, 22, who attended the University of Oxford, were good students with bright futures that were extinguished shortly after they got involved in the cult. Now they both face the prospect of landing on death row.
Prosecutors in California are
It seems the road from the comforts of affluence and privilege and one of the best high schools in the country to death row is not as long as one might think.
Squeaky Fromme, who tried to kill a president, was released from prison after 34 years.
Teresa Youngblut faces bleaker prospects.
Kevin Cullen is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at