Minneapolis: What decision will the Trump administration take in the case of the MLA’s murder

Minneapolis: The man accused of murdering a well-known Minnesota legislator and injuring another may be subject to the death sentence, which is unusual for Minnesota but may become more widespread under the Trump administration.

The last execution in Minnesota was a botched hanging in 1906, and the state outlawed the death penalty in 1911. On Monday, however, federal prosecutors filed accusations against Vance Boelter that carry the death sentence.
State and federal prosecutors often bring criminal charges for the same conduct, particularly in high-profile instances.

In this instance, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, the state prosecutor, was basically taken over by federal officials. Instead, marshals transported Boelter from the county prison to the US courtroom in St. Paul, where he appeared on the more severe federal accusations. Boelter was supposed to appear in court for the first time on state charges on Monday.

Boelter is charged with killing Melissa Hortman, a former Democratic House Speaker, and her husband, Mark, in their northern Minneapolis suburban home early on Saturday. Authorities claim that prior to it, he also shot and injured Sen.

John Hoffman, who lived a few miles away, and his spouse, Yvette. Following what officials have described as the biggest manhunt in Minnesota history, he turned himself in on Sunday night.

The federal case

Since the Supreme Court reintroduced the death penalty in 1976, federal prosecutors have not sought the death penalty in a Minnesota case, despite the fact that two of the six federal charges carry the death sentence.

“Will we pursue capital punishment? It’s too soon to say. “That is one of the options,” said Acting US Attorney Joseph Thompson during a press conference on Monday, when he disclosed fresh information on what he called a well-thought-out assault. They included claims that Boelter had scores of additional Democrats, including officials from other states, as possible targets and had also made stops at the residences of two other senators that evening.

Boelter has not pleaded and his federal attorneys have refrained from commenting on the case.
Attorney General Pam Bondi removed a ban on federal executions set under the Biden administration in 2021 on her first day in office in February. Biden reduced 37 of the prisoners’ sentences to life in prison, leaving only three on federal execution row.

Since then, Bondi has given federal prosecutors permission to pursue the death sentence in at least three instances, including one involving Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. The Justice Department has said that it is pursuing the death sentence in the other two instances against individuals who are accused of murdering other prisoners.

Thirteen federal executions were carried out during President Donald Trump’s first term, more than any other president in contemporary history.

The case of the state

The county’s previous top public defender, Moriarty, who was elected in 2022 on a platform of racial justice and police reform after the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police, seemed to be annoyed by the federal involvement in Boelter’s case.
When asked about the relationship between the federal and state investigations at a press conference on Monday to announce the state charges, Moriarty only provided evasive responses. However, she admitted that “there’s a tension” and asserted that federal representatives “can speak for themselves.”

According to Moriarty, she plans to proceed in state court nevertheless and seek an indictment for first-degree murder for the Hortmans’ deaths, which carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. A request for more comment on Tuesday was not immediately answered by her office.

The county attorney’s refusal to elaborate on the details of Boelter’s first hearings is proof of the tensions. According to court documents, prosecutors asked the judge to issue a bench warrant as a formality since Boelter was not present at his scheduled initial hearing in Hennepin County on Monday because he was in federal prison.
According to Mark Osler, a death penalty specialist at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, “Most murder cases are typically handled in state courts.” “It is obvious that this is a national issue. And it seems to influence the Justice Department’s choice in this case.”

Osler, a former assistant US attorney in Detroit and the chief of Moriarty’s criminal section and deputy county attorney, admitted that state and federal prosecutors often clash.
Osler said, “There’s no doubt that it’s complicated.” “And it’s hard to avoid the sense of the older sibling grabbing something away from the younger sibling.”

What comes next?

According to Osler, federal authorities would have a unique obstacle if they decided to use the death sentence: “a jury pool drawn from the citizens of a state that has rejected the death penalty for more than 100 years.” It’s not the same as selecting individuals in a state like Texas, where the death sentence has always been supported.

Boelter was brought to the Sherburne County Jail in suburban Elk River, where federal inmates are often housed, after his appearance in federal court.

The federal case “does not nullify the state charges,” Thompson told reporters. They’re still there…. Based on previous situations, I anticipate that the federal case and the federal charges will be contested first, but the state charges may not be pursued.

Boelter is scheduled to appear in federal court again on June 27. He doesn’t have any further state court appearances planned.
“There’s a natural competitiveness that occurs sometimes between jurisdictions, but you have to hope that in the end, they’re all facing the same way where there’s something as important to public safety as this case is,” Osler said.