Judge sets Nov. 2 state trial date for Hortman assassin
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A Hennepin County judge on Wednesday set a Nov. 2 state trial date for the man who killed DFL House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark.
Vance Boelter is already serving two consecutive life terms plus 40 years after pleading guilty in June to federal murder, stalking, and firearms charges. The Justice Department agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for the plea.
Boelter, 59, admitted killing the Hortmans on the same night that he shot and wounded DFL State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette and tried to kill their daughter Hope.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Boelter pleaded not guilty to state charges of murder, attempted murder, aggravated animal cruelty for shooting the Hortmans’ dog, and impersonating a police officer.
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Boelter faces an additional life sentence without the possibility of parole if convicted on either of the state counts of first-degree premeditated murder.
Judge Juan Hoyos prohibited Boelter from personally arguing to lower his $5 million bail so he could move from the Hennepin County Jail to federal custody.
The judge allowed defense attorney Bryan Leary to read a statement in which Boelter claimed that law enforcement refused to listen to his allegations about fraud among top Minnesota Democrats and an "illegal unsanctioned Chinese embassy" in the state.
In a filing last week, Boelter said that he plans to mount a “justifiable taking of life” defense. Boelter argues that he was "effecting a lawful arrest" under Minnesota's citizen's arrest law and believed he was in danger of great bodily harm or death.
Assistant Hennepin County Attorneys Krista White and Paige Starkey asked Hoyos to prohibit Boelter from raising these defenses at trial “because the case is devoid of any facts or evidence to support either of these statutory defenses in good faith.”
The prosecutors also asked the judge to limit Boelter's access to some evidence in the case over concerns that he'll publicize private information about his victims.
“The inflammatory and derisive nature of Defendant’s August 28, 2026 filings, as a whole, reveals an apparently desperate desire to foment unnecessary drama and curry media and public attention by any means possible,” they write.
