Alleged assassin’s attorney claims poor jail conditions, sleep deprivation during brief court appearance

Accused political assassin Vance Boelter appeared briefly Friday morning in federal court in St. Paul, where his attorney raised concerns about conditions at the jail where he is being held.

Public defender Manny Atwal said Boelter has remained on suicide watch since his arrest on June 15 and detention at the Sherburne County jail, which houses inmates facing federal charges.

Atwal said Boelter is being held in a cell where the lights are kept on 24 hours a day, and he sleeps on a mat with no pillow while the doors next to him slam, keeping him from sleep. She also said another inmate has spread foul-smelling feces in a cell nearby.

Boelter is so sleep deprived, Atwal said, that speaking with him is difficult.

“Your honor, I haven’t slept in 12 to 14 days,” Boelter told Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko. “I’d also like to state I’ve never been suicidal, and I’m not suicidal now.”

Boelter was dressed in a green sleeveless garment commonly known as a suicide gown.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Harry Jacobs, who is assisting in the prosecution, did not object to continuing the proceedings.

He said the government also shared “concerns” about Boelter that they have “expressed to the [U.S.] Marshals and Sherburne County jail.”

Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott vehemently denied Boelter’s claims about the jail’s conditions. In a statement, he said the suspect’s allegations that he’s been unable to sleep were “absurd” and contradicted what correctional officers and jail cameras purportedly showed.

The sheriff said security cameras showed Boelter in his cell, where he is on suicide watch, “resting peacefully” with his eyes closed from 10:40 p.m. Thursday until 5:45 a.m. Friday, hours before his court appearance.

Brott also said jail lights remain on around the clock so that staffers can conduct welfare checks.

“After [Boelter] returned from his court appearance today,” he wrote, “jail personnel checked live security camera footage of the alleged assassin’s cell, and he was resting peacefully, with his eyes closed.

“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.”

Brott called Boelter’s statements “offensive and disgusting” on the same day that hundreds of Minnesotans traveled to the State Capitol to pay respects to his alleged victims, state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.

“He’s being treated like every other inmate in the same circumstance,” the sheriff wrote. “It’s too late now to complain about the conditions in which he has put himself.”

The next steps, including whether Boelter would be moved to another location, were not discussed at the hearing. He will return to court at 2:30 p.m. July 3 in St. Paul.

“I find good cause to continue this matter,” Micko said, while explaining to Boelter that detention hearings must take place within 14 days and the next hearing would fall outside of that window.

“I appreciate the motion to extend … to get some sleep,” Boelter said.

Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, Minn., is charged with six federal offenses, including stalking and murder, which carry the possibility of the death penalty, in the killings of the Hortmans and shootings of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.

He also faces two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder at the state level.

The federal charges allege Boelter wore a realistic rubber mask and a police officer disguise when he shot the Hoffmans in their Champlin home.

He then allegedly drove at two other lawmakers’ homes before going to the Hortmans’ home early June 14 in what’s been called a politically targeted attack.

The Hoffmans survived their injuries.

Boelter was captured in Green Isle after a 43-hour manhunt deemed the largest in state history.

The hearing at the St. Paul federal courthouse took place as the Hortmans lie in state at the Capitol with their dog, Gilbert, also killed in the attack.