A Minnesota man accused of killing a top Democratic state lawmaker and wounding another while pretending to be a police officer is now facing new and upgraded state charges after a fresh indictment was announced Thursday, just a week after he pleaded not guilty in federal court.
Vance Boelter now faces two charges of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted first-degree murder and charges of impersonating a police officer and animal cruelty for shooting one family’s dog. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the charges “reflect the weight of Mr. Boelter’s crimes.”
But the state case will continue to take a back seat to the federal case against Vance Boelter where he could face more serious consequences. He was indicted July 15 on six counts of murder, stalking and firearms violations. The murder charges could carry the federal death penalty although prosecutors haven’t decided yet whether to seek that while the maximum penalty on the state charges is life in prison because Minnesota doesn’t have the death penalty.
Boelter pleaded not guilty in federal court on Aug. 7.
Moriarty had requested the state prosecution proceed first, but federal prosecutors are using their authority to press their case, according to Daniel Borgertpoepping, Hennepin County Attorney’s Office’s public information officer.
The full extent of the political violence that officials said Boelter, 58, intended to inflict in the early morning hours of June 14 after months of planning alarmed the community. The Green Isle, Minnesota, resident was arrested a day later following a massive search involving local, state and federal authorities.
“The damage done to the victims — those with us, those who were taken from us and to our entire community — has opened wounds that will never heal,” Moriarty said in a statement.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office initially issued a warrant charging Boelter with two counts of second-degree murder for allegedly posing as a police officer and fatally shooting former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their home.
Boelter, authorities said, wore a uniform and a mask and yelled that he was police and told these lawmakers that he was an officer.
Authorities also originally charged Boelter with two counts of attempted second-degree murder, alleging he shot state Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette. But officials said when the charges were filed to secure the warrant that they would likely be updated to first-degree murder charges. They also added two additional attempted murder charges Thursday.
Federal prosecutors already revealed details of their investigation showing Boelter had driven to two other legislators’ homes in the roughly hour and a half timeline. Moriarity charged Boelter with trying to kill one of those lawmakers because he went to her door in the same way he approached the Hortmans’ and Hoffmans’ homes. She said it doesn’t matter that Rep Kristin Bahner wasn’t home.
The state case against Boelter shows an application for public defender was filed on June 16, but one has yet to be assigned. Public defenders are typically assigned in Minnesota at a defendant’s first appearance, which Boelter did not have before being taken into federal custody, Borgertpoepping said in a text message.
Moriarty also announced last week that she would not seek reelection next year. This spring the federal Justice Department opened an investigation of Moriarty’s office after she directed her staff to consider racial disparities as one factor when negotiating plea deals.
Moriarty, a former public defender, was elected in 2022 as the Minneapolis area and the country were still reeling from the death of George Floyd, a Black man pinned under the knee of a white officer for 9 1/2 minutes. She promised to make police more accountable and change the culture of a prosecutors’ office that she believed had long overemphasized punishment without addressing the root causes of crime.
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Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska, and AP writer Hannah Fingerhut contributed from Des Moines, Iowa.
