Man charged with killing prominent lawmaker could face a rarity for Minnesota: the death penalty

MINNEAPOLIS — The man charged with killing a prominent Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another could face something that is a rarity for Minnesota but could become more common under the Trump administration: the death penalty.

Minnesota abolished capital punishment in 1911, and the state's last execution was a botched hanging in 1906. But federal prosecutors announced charges against Vance Boelter on Monday that can carry the death penalty.

It is not unheard of for state and federal prosecutors to both pursue criminal cases for the same offense, especially in high-profile matters.

In this case, federal authorities essentially grabbed the lead from the state prosecutor, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, who happens to oppose the death penalty. Boelter had been scheduled to make his first court appearance on state charges Monday, but instead marshals took him from the county jail to the U.S. courthouse in St. Paul, where he appeared on the more serious federal charges.

Boelter is accused of fatally shooting former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs. Before that, authorities say, he also shot and wounded another Democrat, Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, who lived a few miles away. He surrendered Sunday night after what authorities have called the largest search in Minnesota history.

The federal case

Two of the six federal counts can carry the death penalty, something federal prosecutors have not sought in a Minnesota-based case since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.

''Will we seek the death penalty? It's too early to tell. That is one of the options,'' Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said Monday at a news conference where he revealed new details of what he described as a meticulously planned attack. They included allegations that Boelter also stopped at the homes of two other lawmakers that night and had dozens of other Democrats as potential targets, including officials in other states.

Boelter's federal defenders have declined to comment on the case, and he has not entered a plea.

On her first day in office in February, Attorney General Pam Bondi lifted a moratorium on federal executions that was imposed under the Biden administration in 2021. Only three defendants remain on federal death row after Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison.

Bondi has since authorized federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in at least three cases, including against Luigi Mangione for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. In the other two cases, the Justice Department has said it is seeking the death penalty against defendants charged with killing fellow prison inmates.

President Donald Trump's first administration carried out 13 federal executions, more than the administration of any other president in modern history.

The state's case

The federal intervention in Boelter's case appeared to irritate Moriarty, the county's former chief public defender, who was elected on a police reform and racial justice platform in 2022 after the police killing of George Floyd.

At a news conference Monday to announce the state charges, Moriarty gave only vague answers in response to questions about the interplay between the federal and state investigations. But she acknowledged ''there's a tension'' and said federal officials ''can speak for themselves.''

Moriarty said she intends to press forward in state court regardless and to seek an indictment for first-degree murder for the killings of the Hortmans, which would carry a mandatory sentence of life without parole.

Thompson told reporters that the federal case ''does not nullify the state charges. They remain in place. ... My expectation based on prior cases is the federal case, the federal charges, will be litigated first, but the state charges won't necessarily go anywhere.''

On Wednesday, Moriarty said in an interview with The Associated Press that she told federal prosecutors that she wants her office to try Boelter first. But she said she came away with the impression that the U.S. Attorney's Office intends to exercise its legal authority to go first.

Moriarty said she wants the first chance ''because this horrific crime happened in our community" and the lawmakers represented parts of Hennepin County. And she pointed out that her office tries murder cases all the time, and that it is the largest prosecutors' office in the state.

''We have all the resources and experience to handle these cases because that's what we do," she said. "We feel that we owe it to the community to prosecute this case, and we would like to go first.''

Officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

What usually happens

''Usually murder cases are overwhelmingly handled in state courts,'' said Mark Osler, a death penalty expert at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis. ''Clearly this is something of national interest. And that seemed to play a role in the decision that the Justice Department is making here.''

Osler, who formerly served as Moriarty's deputy county attorney and head of her criminal division, as well as assistant U.S. attorney in Detroit, acknowledged that there are often tensions between state and federal prosecutors.

''There's no doubt that it's complicated,'' Osler said. ''And it's hard to avoid the sense of the older sibling grabbing something away from the younger sibling.''

What's next

If federal officials do pursue the death penalty, Osler said, they will face an unusual challenge: ''a jury pool drawn from the citizens of a state that has rejected the death penalty for over 100 years. It's not the same as choosing people in a state where there's a history of support for the death penalty, such as Texas.''

Moriarty opposes the death penalty and hopes that the federal prosecutors decide not to seek it against Boelter, noting that she hopes to try him for first-degree murder, which would mean life without parole if he is convicted.

''I certainly hope they respect the fact that Minnesota hasn't had a death penalty for decades, and that's because of our values here,'' Moriarty said.

After his federal court appearance, Boelter was taken to the Sherburne County Jail in suburban Elk River, where federal prisoners are often held. His next federal court appearance is June 27. He does not have any further appearances scheduled in state court.

''There's a natural competitiveness that occurs sometimes between jurisdictions, but you have to hope that in the end, they're all facing the same way where there's something as important to public safety as this case is,'' Osler said.

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Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed.