Alleged assassin Vance Boelter’s trial awaits scheduling as defense reviews piles of evidence

The trial of alleged political assassin Vance Boelter may not be scheduled for months because of the reams of evidence awaiting review by his defense attorneys.

A federal judge agreed to extend the deadline for attorneys to compile and review evidence in the investigation on Wednesday during a brief status conference in federal court in Minneapolis to provide updates on Boelter’s stalking and murder case in the June shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses.

Manny Atwal, Boelter’s federal defender, said the defense needed more time to review the abundance of evidence tied to the case. She said just one hard drive received by her team contained more than 130,000 pages of documents and 2,000 photographs. The defense still has one more hard drive to review, which she said will take more than 100 hours just to download.

“It’s not unusual for a complex case, but it is a lot of information to review,” Atwal told U.S. Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Harry Jacobs, representing the government, said prosecutors did not object to an extended deadline to review discovery, which was granted in May. He said their team has “substantially completed” their round of reviewing evidence and still await a few more reports.

Boelter, who appeared thinner, dressed in a jail-issued orange sweatshirt and sweatpants, did not speak during the roughly 10-minute hearing.

Wednesday’s court proceeding marked the first time since August that Boelter appeared in court on the six federal offenses connected to the shootings. The charges allege he killed Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and attempted to kill Rep. Kristin Bahner and Sen. John Hoffman, his wife, Yvette, and their daughter, Hope, at their respective homes on the morning of June 14.

The two federal counts of murder carry the possibility of the death penalty. Federal prosecutors have not yet determined whether they will pursue it, Jacobs said on Wednesday. Foster asked prosecutors to provide an update on that decision at Boelter’s next court hearing, which is scheduled for Feb. 20.

Boelter also faces state charges, which include two counts of 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. The maximum penalty on the state charges is life in prison.

Earlier this week, the Brooklyn Park and Champlin city councils approved an “after-action review joint powers agreement” contract to examine the law enforcement response to the attacks. The review, which will cost $429,500, will examine the 43 hours between when the shootings began and when Boelter was arrested and charged with the crimes. It will be handled by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, a Virginia-based nonprofit that promotes best practices for policing.