Still no death penalty decision against accused lawmaker assassin Vance Boelter, prosecutors say

Sarah Nelson, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Feb 20, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — Federal prosecutors said Friday, Feb. 20, that the U.S. government has yet to formally decide whether to seek the death penalty against Vance Boelter, the man accused of shootings two Minnesota state lawmakers and their families last summer.

During a brief appearance in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, assistant U.S. attorneys asked that the matter be taken up again at a future hearing.

“The decision-making process is ongoing,” assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Forbes told the court. The decision, he said, ultimately requires the green light from the U.S. Attorney General.

Boelter, 58, has pleaded not guilty to six federal charges in connection with the fatal shooting of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and wounding of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, on June 14 at their homes.

The indictment alleges he disguised himself as a police officer when he knocked on their doors in the middle of the night. After a manhunt of more than 40 hours, Boelter was arrested near his home in Green Isle, Minn.

Friday’s hearing was the first without lead prosecutor Harry Jacobs, who along with several people resigned from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota in mid-January. The office has since lost more than a dozen attorneys and staff over concerns about directives from the Justice Department under the Trump administration.

The departures include assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Bobier, who was also originally assigned to Boelter’s case.

When asked by U.S. Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster, Forbes, flanked by assistant U.S. Attorney Bradley Endicott, said prosecutors don’t anticipate delays in Boelter’s prosecution because of the staffing crunch.

“Mr. Endicott and I have been on this case since day one,” Forbes said. “If the case goes to trial and additional resources are needed, they will be added.”

Manny Atwal, Boelter’s federal defender, said her office continues to pore over a trove of evidence in the case since his last hearing in November. She said three terabytes of PDFs and images took 50 hours alone to review.

“But so far we are on track,” Atwal said.

Foster scheduled another hearing April 17 for both sides to provide another update in the case. Prosecutors said they intend to discuss the death penalty again at that time.

Boelter, who did not speak during Friday’s appearance, also faces state charges, including first-degree murder, four counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of felony animal cruelty in the killing of the Hortmans’ dog, Gilbert, and one count of impersonating a police officer.

If convicted, the maximum penalty for his state charges, is life in prison.

In a recent decision that could have implications in Boelter’s federal case, a federal judge in New York ruled that the U.S. government cannot seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed Mangione’s federal murder charge that carried the possibility of a capital punishment.

Prosecutors had tethered Mangione’s murder charge to his stalking charge, but Garnett ruled stalking does not rise to a “crime of violence.” Prosecutors in Minnesota filed similar federal charges against Boelter that accused him of stalking the Hortmans and the Hoffmans, also labeling the stalking allegations as a “crime of violence.”

They attached the stalking counts to his federal charges accusing him of using a firearm to kill the Hortmans and injure the Hoffmans − and the attempted shooting of the Hoffmans’ daughter, Hope. The matter was not discussed during Friday’s hearing.

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—Jeff Day of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this report.

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