Minnesota’s St. Paul.”I’m looking forward to the facts coming out about what happened that day,” the man accused of killing former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband on June 14 and injuring a state senator and his wife on Thursday.
In a court appearance, Vance Boelter gave up his right to a full hearing on probable cause, which would allow the judge to decide if the government had sufficient evidence to move on with the case, and whether he should be kept in jail without bail. The hearing on Thursday lasted less than ten minutes.
Boelter told Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko, “Your honor, I’m looking forward to court and looking forward to the facts about the 14th coming out.” Boelter confirmed that he intentionally gave up his entitlement to due process hearings. That allows the truth to be revealed in court more quickly.
Boelter’s next court appearance has not yet been scheduled. The next step is for a grand jury to produce an indictment, which is due by mid-July and may contain additional counts, Minnesota’s acting U.S. attorney Joe Thompson told reporters afterward. Boelter would then be required to enter a plea when he returned to court for an arraignment.
When federal marshals took Green Isle resident Boelter, 57, into court on Thursday, he was dressed in a typical two-piece yellow jail uniform, complete with orange slippers and a yellow T-shirt underneath. Aside from a goatee, he seemed clean-shaven.
On the other hand, when Boelter was taken into court last Friday, he was unshaven and wearing a green padded suicide prevention suit. His federal attorney, Manny Atwal, requested that the hearing be postponed until Thursday, stating that her client had been unable to sleep while under suicide watch because of the terrible jail conditions that hindered communication.
Boelter stated, “I don’t know if it’s day or night, but the lights in the cell where he’s still being held are never out.” However, Micko stated that he is not satisfied with the circumstances at the Sherburne County Jail.
Thompson told reporters, “I think that’s what everyone wants,” in response to Boelter’s comments about wanting the truth to be revealed.
Boelter is being charged with murder and attempted murder in separate federal and state court cases, but the federal government is exercising its right to go first.
According to Thompson, this is more than a murder case. Political assassination is what this is.
According to authorities, a guy posing as a police officer and operating a phony squad car shot Hortman and her husband, Mark, dead in their Brooklyn Park, Minneapolis, suburb early on June 14.
Additionally, Boelter is accused of shooting and gravely wounding state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, in their Champlin, Illinois, home earlier that morning. Gilbert, Hortman’s golden retriever, was gravely hurt and had to be put down, but the Hoffmans are on the mend.
Following a 40-hour quest that officials described as the greatest search in Minnesota history, Boelter turned himself in close to his home on the evening of June 15.
Boelter and his attorney have not made any public remarks regarding the charges, which carry a potential federal death sentence. Boelter is an evangelical Christian with conservative political beliefs, according to friends.However, prosecutors have refrained from speculating on a motive thus far.
According to Thompson, the attorney general will eventually decide whether to implement the death penalty after consulting with our office and taking into account a number of criteria.
In 1911, Minnesota abolished the death penalty. However, Attorney General Pam Bondi has stated that the Trump administration will pursue the death penalty vigorously.
Boelter allegedly also made house calls to two other Democratic legislators, according to the prosecution. Additionally, they claim that he named scores of other Democrats, including state politicians, as possible targets.
Last Saturday, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Joe Biden attended the Hortmans’ burial as mourners. Harris’s running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket for 2024, Governor Tim Walz, praised Hortman as the most influential speaker in Minnesota history.
Hortman held the position of speaker from January until 2019. After the elections left the House deadlocked, she gave up the position to a Republican in a power-sharing agreement.
