A Hennepin County grand jury on Thursday returned a first-degree premeditated murder indictment against the man suspected of killing former DFL House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark. But Vance Boelter is still expected to face trial on similar charges in federal court first.
The new eight-count state indictment also charges Boelter, 58, with the attempted first-degree murder of DFL State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette and their daughter Hope.
The couple was hospitalized with gunshot wounds, but Hope Hoffman was not physically injured. Boelter allegedly opened fire in the Hoffman’s home about 90 minutes before he attacked the Hortmans.
At a news conference Thursday, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that the grand jury also indicted Boelter for the attempted murder of DFL State Rep. Kristen Bahner, even though she wasn't home.
“It does not matter that the act could not be completed here,” Moriarty said. “In other words the fact that Bahner wasn’t home at all is not a barrier to proving this charge.”
Boelter is charged additionally with impersonating a police officer and felony animal cruelty for the shooting of the Hortmans’ dog Gilbert. A veterinarian euthanized the golden retriever after determining that he’d been paralyzed.
Because first-degree premeditated murder carries an automatic sentence of life without parole under Minnesota, a grand jury must approve the charges.
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office initially charged Boelter with second degree murder on June 14, the day of the shootings. Federal prosecutors filed murder charges the next day, but their case takes priority.
While the state and federal charges are similar, Moriarty said that the state case against Boelter must also move forward.
“We feel it’s important to hold Boelter accountable for what he did in this county,” Moriarty said. “I will also say that there’s no possibility of anyone — at least in the federal government — pardoning Boelter on anything we do here in state court.”
Minnesota outlawed capital punishment in 1911, but Boelter could still face the death penalty on the federal level, should the Justice Department choose to pursue it.
Acting Minnesota U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said in July that a decision on whether to pursue the death penalty would take several months, and would ultimately be made by Attorney General Pam Bondi with input from federal prosecutors in Minnesota and the victims’ relatives.
