The man who admitted to assassinating a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband while posing as a police officer was sentenced Thursday to two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years in federal prison.
Vance Luther Boelter, 59, pleaded guilty last month to federal charges stemming from the June 14, 2025, shootings that killed former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman. He also killed the couple’s dog, Gilbert.
The plea agreement spared him from the death penalty in exchange for accepting the maximum prison sentence. U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim called it “the longest sentence I have imposed after hearing thousands of cases over the years, but I do believe it is deserved.”
The deaths sparked since-debunked conspiracy theories that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz or a multi-billion-dollar day care fraud scandal were behind the assassination.
The couple’s children, Colin and Sophie Hortman, issued a blistering statement in January after President Donald Trump amplified a video that insinuated that Tim Walz was involved in the June 14 assassination of their parents.
“My father and mother, Mark and Melissa Hortman, and their dog Gilbert, were killed by a man who believed conspiracy theories and fake news,” Colin wrote, adding, “Words matter. Sharing fake news is dangerous.”
Boelter also critically wounded state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, after stalking multiple lawmakers for months and traveling to their homes disguised as a police officer.
“The defendant looked me in the eyes and pulled the trigger. The defendant looked at my wife and chose to do the same,” Hoffman told the court. “My wife and I now live with injuries. We live with our bodies remembering the gunfire.”
The hearing was filled with emotional victim impact statements from the Hortmans’ family, including their son, Colin, who spoke about the lasting trauma of losing both parents.
“My days are filled with gray, and the blood that was spilled is the last thing I see before I go to sleep and the first thing I see when I wake,” he said. “There is no sentence that weighs 15 gunshots, a murdered dog and the rest of my life.”
Boelter, who remained largely expressionless throughout the hearing, offered only a brief apology after the sentence was imposed.
“To every person I have caused… emotions… I am truly sorry,” he said.
He still faces separate state murder and attempted murder charges in Minnesota.
Read it at AP News
