Man charged with shootings of Minnesota lawmakers pleads not guilty

The man charged with killing a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband and injuring a state senator and his wife pleaded not guilty in federal court on Thursday.

Vance Boelter, 58, was indicted on July 15 on six counts of murder, stalking and firearms violations.

The murder charges could make him eligible for the federal death penalty, though prosecutors say that decision won’t be made for months.

One of Boelter’s lawyers entered his not guilty plea on his behalf. The accused was present in the courtroom and wore an orange sweatshirt and yellow pants, according to The Associated Press.

He spoke only to affirm that he understood the charges and thanked the judge.

When Boelter was arraigned on June 16, prosecutors released a letter they say he wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel admitting to the murders.

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In it, he confessed to the June 14 shootings of Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. It does not provide a motive as to why he targeted the Hortmans or Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, who both survived after being shot nine and eight times, respectively.

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“Dear Kash Patel. My name is Dr. Vance Luther Boelter Ed.D. I am the shooter at large in Minnesota involved in the shoo 2 shootings the morning of Saturday June 15th at approximately 2:30 am and 3:30 am, or around that time. I will probably be dead by the time you read this letter,” Boelter wrote.

In it, he made rambling mentions of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and boasted about the number of weapons he had stashed with him during his shooting spree.

He concluded the letter by writing, “I am willing to spill all the beans. I just want my family safe. They had nothing to do with this and are totally innocent. This was a one person job.”

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On Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster issued a revised schedule with various deadlines without setting a trial date to allow both sides ample time to review mountains of evidence.

“The investigation of this case arose out of the largest manhunt in Minnesota’s history,” prosecutors wrote.

“Accordingly, the discovery to be produced by the government will include a substantial amount of investigative material and reports from more than a dozen different law enforcement agencies at the federal, state, and local levels.”

They added that the evidence could potentially include thousands of hours of video footage, tens of thousands of pages of responses to dozens of grand jury subpoenas, and data from numerous electronic devices seized during the investigation.

Foster on Thursday agreed that the case is complex and excluded it from speedy trial requirements.

The motive for the crimes remains unclear. People who know Boelter said he is an evangelical Christian, politically conservative and had been struggling to find work.

Authorities said Boelter made long lists of politicians in Minnesota and other states — all or mostly Democrats.

In several letters written to the New York Times via his jail’s messaging service, Boelter implied his actions were rooted in part in the Christian commandment to love one’s neighbour.

“Because I love my neighbors prior to June 14th I conducted a 2-year-long undercover investigation,” he wrote.

The acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Joe Thompson, told reporters last month that “there is little evidence showing why he turned to political violence and extremism.”

Prosecutors say Boelter was disguised as a police officer and driving a fake squad car in the early hours of June 14 when he went to the Hoffman home in the Minneapolis suburb of Champlin.

Boelter later went to the Hortman home, killing them both and gravely injuring their dog, authorities say. Boelter was arrested after a two-day manhunt.

— with files from The Associated Press