03-07-2025
Man Charged With Killing Former Minnesota House Speaker Is Due Back In Court After Delay
The man charged with killing former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and wounding a state senator and his wife, returned to federal court Thursday for a hearing that had been postponed. The hearing addressed whether Vance Boelter should remain in custody without bail and affirmed probable cause to proceed with the case. He is not expected to enter a plea until after prosecutors secure a grand jury indictment.
A hearing last Friday was postponed after Boelter's lawyer said his client had been sleep-deprived due to harsh conditions in the Sherburne County Jail, making it difficult for them to communicate. Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, wore a padded suicide prevention suit and orange slippers to that hearing. He denied being suicidal. Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott rejected Boelter's claims of poor conditions as 'absurd,' saying, 'He is not in a hotel. He's in jail where a person belongs when they commit the heinous crimes he is accused of committing.'
Boelter faces separate federal and state cases on murder and attempted murder charges for what Acting US Attorney Joe Thompson has called a 'political assassination' and a 'chilling attack on our democracy.' Federal authorities are proceeding first. Authorities say Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot to death in their Brooklyn Park home in the early hours of June 14 by a man disguised as a police officer driving a fake squad car. Boelter also allegedly shot and seriously wounded state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, earlier that morning at their home in nearby Champlin. The Hoffmans are recovering, but Hortman's golden retriever, Gilbert, was seriously injured and had to be euthanized.
Boelter surrendered near his home on the night of June 15 after a 40-hour manhunt that authorities called the largest search in Minnesota history. Boelter's lawyer said he had been kept in a suicide prevention suit without undergarments since his first court appearance on June 16, with lights on 24 hours a day, frequent slamming doors, and the smell of feces from the next cell. The judge granted the delay so Boelter could be moved to segregation and given a normal jail uniform.
Boelter's lawyers have declined to comment on the charges, which could carry the federal death penalty, though Thompson has said no decision has been made on whether to seek it. Minnesota abolished its death penalty in 1911. Prosecutors allege Boelter also stopped at the homes of two other Democratic lawmakers and had a list of dozens of other potential targets, including officials in other states. Friends described Boelter as an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views, but prosecutors have declined to speculate on a motive. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris attended Hortman's funeral. Gov. Tim Walz eulogized Hortman as 'the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history.' Hortman served as speaker from 2019 until January, then yielded the post to a Republican in a power-sharing deal and became speaker emerita.
