Bring Me The News · Brianna Kelly · September 4, 2026
The convicted killer now plans to mount a "justifiable taking of life" defense, claiming he was trying to conduct a citizen's arrest of Rep. Melissa Hortman and Sen. John Hoffman.
Already serving two life sentences following a federal murder trial, Vance Boelter pleaded not guilty Wednesday to state charges in the shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses last June.
Boelter, 59, previously admitted that he killed Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark, and their dog Gilbert, wounded state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, and tried to kill their daughter Hope.
MPR News reports that the convicted murderer now plans to mount a "justifiable taking of life" defense because he allegedly feared for his life while making a citizen's arrest on June 14, 2025, first at the Hoffmans' Champlin home, then at the Hortmans' Brooklyn Park home.
Prosecutors argued that "the case is devoid of any facts or evidence to support either of these statutory defenses in good faith," and accused Boelter of "an apparently desperate desire to foment unnecessary drama and curry media and public attention by any means possible."
Boelter pleaded guilty in June to all six federal charges against him, including murder, stalking, and weapons charges. In exchange, federal prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
He was sentenced the following month to two consecutive life terms plus 40 years.
At the state level, Boelter is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, aggravated animal cruelty, and impersonating a police officer. He faces an additional life sentence without the possibility of parole.
In a statement read by his attorney Wednesday in a Hennepin County courtroom, Boelter claimed that he is "a patriot," not an "assassin."
According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, the statement alleges that Vice President J.D. Vance delayed a fraud investigation into Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison "to protect Democrats from evidence that I have been waiting to give law enforcement for 14 months," echoing other vague comments that Boelter has made about knowing information that the government is trying to hide.
He has previously made outlandish claims that he was trained "off the books" by the U.S. military and recruited by Walz to kill U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith.
Boelter's state trial is scheduled to begin on Nov. 2.