Hennepin County’s top prosecutor says the state’s case against Vance Boelter is moving forward this week not only for the victims and their families — but also because a conviction would not be eligible for a pardon by the president.

Boelter will be in a Hennepin County courtroom for the first time Monday to face charges in last year’s targeted shootings that killed DFL state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their Brooklyn Park home, and severely wounded DFL state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home in Champlin. The gunfire also struck the Hortmans’ dog, Gilbert, who was later euthanized.

Last month, Boelter, 59, of Green Isle, Minn., was sentenced in federal court to life in prison for the shootings, the same sentence he would receive if convicted in state court on the first-degree premeditated murder charges against him.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty has been candid about her reason for proceeding with the state case: Her office issued statements after Boelter’s June 11 guilty plea and his July 23 sentencing, noting the federal case has no bearing on the state charges and that state sentences are beyond the reach of a presidential pardon.

Moriarty repeated that sentiment in a recent interview with the Pioneer Press, saying: “It’s important that we go forward for the victims especially, but also so that there cannot be a presidential pardon.”

Whether President Donald Trump actually would pardon Boelter is a matter of speculation, Moriarty said.

“We’ve not heard anything specific about that, but the pardons that this president has given give you pause,” she said. “You only need to look at Jan. 6. You had people storming the Capitol and violently assaulting police officers, and those people were pardoned. And we’ve certainly seen a lot of people pardoned who were convicted of violent crimes and drug crimes.”

Furthermore, Moriarty said, there were last year’s online campaigns and calls from conservative commentators suggesting that Trump should pardon Derek Chauvin in his federal case. She added, “And Trump particularly seems to have a lot of animosity toward Minnesota.”

Moriarty said a presidential pardon “is a question on the minds of some of the people who are harmed here. And it’s a question on the minds of a lot of Minnesotans.”

Attorney Matt Forsgren, who represents the Hoffmans, said the “notion or concept of a pardon is unthinkable and ghastly.”

The family supports the state’s prosecution regardless of whether it goes to trial, he said, adding, “Certainly it would not be any harder than what they had to go through on the night in question.”

The Hortmans’ adult children, Colin and Sophie, through their spokesman, declined to comment on the state’s prosecution.

The county attorney’s office charged Boelter first — on June 14, 2025, the day of the killings, while he was still on the run — and the federal charges came two days later.

Moriarty said her office asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office if the state case could be prosecuted first.

“They wanted to go first,” she said. “And I had talked to them a little bit about having a global resolution so we could settle everything at one time. That, for various reasons, didn’t happen.”

In addition to two counts of first-degree premeditated murder, Boelter faces four counts of first-degree attempted murder, felony cruelty to an animal and impersonating a police officer. Boelter, who is being held at the Sherburne County Jail, will go before Hennepin County District Judge Juan Hoyos for a first appearance on the charges Monday afternoon.

The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment on Moriarty’s concern over a pardon.

Some wanted a trial

As part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors, Boelter agreed to two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years and waived his right to appeal the conviction and sentence. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to end their pursuit of the death penalty.

At sentencing, Mark Hortman’s father, J. Carroll Hortman, condemned the Justice Department, specifically acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, for taking capital punishment off the table. Hortman said he wanted to see Boelter executed, “but Todd Blanche deprived me of that.”

Hortman, who is 86, lives in Florida and said he’s a Republican, told the court that Blanche “made the gutless decision to save money and save time, and deprived our family of the public trial that we deserve, that would have brought up facts that we deserve.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Forbes said Boelter’s motivation for the shootings was political.

“He was consumed with those he disagreed with,” Forbes told the court. “In this case, it was Democrats.”

Boelter’s internet and text-message history showed he knew the Minnesota Legislature “was so closely divided that by killing four state legislators, the inevitable result would be a shift in the balance of power in both legislative houses,” prosecutors wrote in a presentencing memo.

Trial or plea?

Amy Sweasy, a University of Minnesota law professor and former assistant Hennepin County attorney, said she empathizes with Mark Hortman’s father.

“You would get more information in a trial, no question about it,” she said. “I don’t know for sure that you would get the kind of information that families usually want. Of course, that would be up to those families.”

Sweasy said one might argue the state’s prosecution is a “duplication of government resources that doesn’t need to happen. I think that really depends on your point of view.”

It’s an open question whether the case will resolve quickly, Sweasy said.

“That will be interesting,” she said. “On the one hand, I could see that it’s in everyone’s interest to try to resolve it quickly, if the goal is to get a conviction. On the other hand, the fact that he is now permanently in federal custody, well, frankly, doesn’t create a sense of urgency.”

Former Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said he supports the efforts of the state to go forward with prosecution, adding, “I hope they do it quickly.”

Melissa Hortman was an assistant Hennepin County attorney in the office’s civil division from 2013 to 2016, while Freeman was county attorney. “She’s a lovely person, one of the nicest people I’ve met,” he said.

The thought of a Trump pardon is the biggest reason to seek a state conviction, Freeman said.

“It’s very clear that this president cannot be counted on not to abuse his pardon privilege and pardon this guy sometime later on,” he said.

Moriarty said the best-case scenario would be a guilty plea.

“Certainly our hope is that we can avoid a trial. I don’t think that that would be good for anyone,” she said. “But that’s up to Mr. Boelter. We can’t control that.”

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