Full Press Conference — Vance Boelter pleads guilty to federal charges

[0:08] Everybody here has agreed to keep their comments to no more than 10 minutes, so it won't be long. [0:14] I'll be the only one speaking this morning, and then I'll be happy to take the questions that you may have thereafter. [0:24] Political violence is a scourge plaguing America in our times. [0:29] The murders of Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman, [0:35] shooting of Senator John Hoffman and Yvette Hoffman, [0:38] and the attempted shooting of Hope Hoffman are among the worst political violence crimes that we have seen. [0:45] Today, the United States achieved the admissions and the agreement necessary for the perpetrator of those crimes [0:52] to spend the rest of his life in prison without possibility of release. [0:57] Those that would commit political violence at any level should take heed. [1:07] The Department of Justice will seek and obtain the longest prison terms available for your crimes. [1:14] I want to thank the outstanding team of prosecutors here in our office [1:21] who have been on this case since its first hours. [1:26] Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Endicott, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Forbes, [1:34] our extraordinarily smart, committed, and talented prosecutors, [1:38] and today's guilty pleas on all counts and the defendant's agreement to the longest possible prison term [1:45] on all counts is a direct result of their work. [1:49] I also want to thank the leadership of this office prior to my arrival here, [1:55] whose work on this case from the very first moments of it were also critical to the final outcome. [2:05] Today's plea agreement would not be possible without the outstanding work of federal law enforcement. [2:09] Our partners, Chris Dotson and Spencer Burnett, the special agent in charge of the FBI [2:15] and the assistant special agent in charge of ATF, respectively, are here behind me. [2:22] Their work goes on every single day. [2:25] Nothing we do in this office can happen without them. [2:29] I want to thank local law enforcement who are represented here, [2:33] the chiefs of police of the Minneapolis Police Department, [2:37] the Champlin Police Department, and the Brooklyn Park Police Department, [2:41] whom we depended on in this case and we depend on on a daily basis for federal prosecution. [2:50] And finally, I want to thank our great partner, Drew Evans of the Minnesota BCA, [2:54] a true professional with whom we have the pleasure and honor to work on so many matters critical to Minnesotans. [3:02] And if you have any questions, I'd be happy to take them. [3:05] So I'm just going to ask, and we'll start with Paul, [3:08] if you would do me the favor of just telling me your name and the organization that you're here reporting with, [3:12] I would appreciate it. [3:14] A charge in the end? [3:31] How did your office come down on it? [3:33] How did the Attorney General make this? [3:36] Yeah, and I know there was some confusing news reports out over the weekend, [3:39] and perhaps I can eliminate that confusion. [3:46] First of all, it is, I think, it's now out as a public document, [3:50] the Attorney General's direction in this case that he issued last Friday. [3:54] And I will tell you, the Attorney General and I see this thing the exact same way [3:58] and are in complete agreement on it. [4:01] The direction that we had was that we will not seek the death penalty provided Mr. Belter [4:08] enters into the plea agreement that you all saw him enter into today. [4:13] And that was the only circumstance under which the death penalty was off the table. [4:18] We do believe, we continue to believe, this case was charged right. [4:22] You raised, Paul, the question of the Mangione case and some murkiness that the fallout from [4:30] that case may create around death penalty law and some of the statutes that relate to it. [4:36] But what I can tell you is that we certainly believe that this case as charged, [4:42] which had important differences from the Mangione charges, [4:45] that this case as charged was certainly death penalty eligible, [4:48] and we would have prevailed in that ultimately in the courts. [4:54] But the truth is, when you have a defendant that is prepared to plead guilty, [4:59] take consecutive life terms plus to ensure that he never sees freedom again in his entire life, [5:05] that was an opportunity that we just could not pass up. [5:10] Yes, sir. [5:11] First of all, one, and everybody here should know, [5:24] this office is more staffed today than it was on the day that I arrived. [5:28] We have already hired more assistant U.S. attorneys than left during the surge. [5:34] We also are supplemented by reinforcements from elsewhere in the country and in Washington, D.C. [5:39] There is no staffing issue in the U.S. attorney's office. [5:43] Oh, we could use some very, very valuable support staff. [5:47] I think every U.S. attorney's office around the country would like that. [5:51] And if you are a qualified paralegal, please apply to our office. [5:54] But I will tell you, there is absolutely no staffing issue that affects any case in this office, [6:01] and it certainly didn't affect this one. [6:03] Lou. [6:03] Lou from Care 11, when the charges were filed at that time, Vance Belter was spouting what could be described as either delusional or conspiracy theory-type statements about why he did this. [6:17] What made him go from that to today, essentially, in the actual basis, admitting to every factor that the evidence seemed to show? [6:25] Well, Lou, of course, we don't communicate directly with the defendant, and we certainly don't communicate directly with the defendant in this case. [6:33] What I assume that what led him to do that today is what he swore under oath today, and that is that every element of what was alleged was absolutely the truth. [6:42] Yes, sir. [6:43] Matt Sedbeck, our news. [6:45] Was the death penalty the leverage that you'd get if not an accepted life sentence? [6:55] Well, again, I'm not going to put myself in the mind of Mr. Belter or his counsel, [7:01] but what I can tell you is that the terms of our offer to Mr. Belter were, [7:08] if you plead guilty and take consecutive life sentences, we will take the death penalty off the table. [7:13] Yes, ma'am. [7:14] Well, again, we didn't take the death penalty off the table. [7:26] We made an agreement that said that we will not seek the death penalty provided he agrees to serve the longest prison time possible under the law for every single one of the counts. [7:37] And I would say that the precedent that it sets is that if you want to commit political violence at any level, no matter what it is, [7:44] that we are going to seek the longest and strongest prison terms for your offense. [7:50] Yes, ma'am. [7:51] I think that's a question I really best not answer, and I apologize for that. [8:05] But I don't want to get into the back and forth between ourselves and the defendant. [8:10] You know, at all times in this office, we have to be respectful of the rights of criminal defendants, [8:15] even those that are as brutally murderous as this one. [8:18] Yes, sir. [8:40] So I think that's the same question as I got earlier. [8:43] And again, we don't have the opportunity to speak directly with Mr. Belter. [8:48] And what we do know is, and what we certainly expect is that what motivated his guilty plea here is that he was guilty of everything. [8:59] With regard to why it is that, with regard to what it is that controls the criminal mind and what drives a criminal to want to commit this sort of brutal murder [9:09] and to do it as coldly as it was done, I wonder if will any of us who live law-abiding lives will ever really be able to understand that sort of motivation. [9:21] So, the federal prosecution is separate from the state prosecution. [9:37] I certainly would encourage you to speak to the state prosecutors, and we don't have information as to what might happen in that prosecution, [9:45] and we certainly invite them to proceed in whatever way they think is appropriate. [9:49] And I'm trying to make sure I'm covered everybody. [9:51] Have I had you? [9:52] Matt? [9:52] Yes. [9:53] Matt, you get the first, second round. [9:54] I have another question. [9:55] The magistrate judge in this case was critical of timing and the length of time that it took to come to a decision about [10:02] the death penalty. [10:03] Can you talk a little bit more about why it took so long in this case? [10:07] With the managing only case, it was less than four months. [10:09] Yeah, and I understand where Judge Foster was coming from on that because we anticipated having our death penalty recommendation up to the attorney general prior to that particular hearing. [10:23] It is true that because of some reframing of issues that was, or I should say reexamination of issues, reframing and reexamination of issues stimulated by the outcome of the Mangione case, [10:43] that we needed to go back and make sure that we were addressing those particular issues. [10:49] And then, I think, as you're all probably aware, our recommendation went up, I think, within about a week, maybe not even, maybe 10 days of that particular hearing. [11:00] But, but, so there ended up actually not being any delay at all. [11:08] Yes, sir. [11:09] Connor, again, with WCCO-TV. [11:12] Often there could be a negative connotation to a plea agreement for some people who may feel that, you know, [11:17] you should be going after the absolute highest penalty possible. [11:20] I noticed that you were speaking with Senator Hoffman as you came into the courtroom. [11:24] Has there been conversations with victims, the family of victims ahead of time? [11:30] Is there satisfaction, so to speak, with where this is shaked out today? [11:34] So, actually, federal law, federal law actually requires us to be communicating with victims [11:42] and the immediate families of victims at certain critical points along the process. [11:46] We, of course, followed that law and we have been in communication with them. [11:49] I certainly want to respect all of, all of the victims' privacy and allow, and I would just encourage you to present [11:57] whatever questions they're, they're prepared to entertain so that they can really answer for themselves. [12:03] And we're just going to kind of go back clockwise again. [12:05] Lou. [12:06] Yeah, and this is just for clarity. [12:07] Are you able to tell us when you made that recommendation, if it was to the attorney general to recommend to seek it [12:14] when you, when you guys sent that up? [12:16] And are you able to say if the families wanted the death penalty or if they wanted life and prison? [12:21] Well, with regard to the latter part, again, I want to defer to the family with regard to any expressions of what their wishes may have been. [12:30] You know, one of the peculiar, peculiar, if I could pronounce the word, we'd all be better off. [12:35] One of the peculiarities of, of the justice department guidelines is that while we don't generally say what our recommendations to the attorney general was, [12:51] I am a hundred percent free to tell you there is absolutely no daylight between me and the attorney general on this. [12:57] And we see it the exact same way. [12:59] And hopefully that's a sufficient answer to your question. [13:02] Lou, please remind me your name. [13:04] And even though you just told me two minutes ago, yes, Pilar. [13:11] During the admission to fact, I felt her admitted to putting the gun, but there's also some confusion because there weren't a lot of details in that question. [13:24] Was she running away at the time? [13:27] Was she, there was a question of whether she was running up the stairs at the time? [13:31] Was she on the ground? [13:32] She had already been shot at that point or just shot at and missed? [13:36] We're just trying to put that in perspective. [13:38] Yeah. [13:38] I don't want to go beyond the strict language of the plea agreement and the facts that Mr. Belter agreed to today. [13:47] As is typical in these cases, at the time of sentencing, some additional details are likely to come out. [13:54] And I would prefer that the process play itself out in the normal way. [13:58] What I would suggest is now that the plea agreement is a public document, you may all wish to take a look at exactly how those facts are laid out. [14:06] And I think it will answer your question in part, but not necessarily entirely. [14:13] Yes, sir. [14:18] So today, I'm really only going to take questions on the Belter case. [14:23] But I will also tell you that, as I think is normal, we don't comment on ongoing investigations. [14:33] Paul, I think you had another question. [14:57] Do you have an opinion on the tracking of Belter? [15:06] So first of all, no, the anniversary of the death of the Hortmans did not play any role whatsoever in our timing. [15:17] With regard to the other question, from everything that I can see, I thought local law enforcement did an outstanding job. [15:24] And the end result was that they got their man. [15:28] And their man is now going to prison for the longest possible prison time that he can go for. [15:31] Yes, sir, recommendations about where he will serve his sentence? [15:42] First of all, that's a decision by the Bureau of Prisons. [15:44] And with regard to other questions about specifics on sentencing, I really don't have answers on that today. [15:53] These are things that we haven't considered. [15:55] Yes, sir. [15:58] Oh, yeah, I know that, Jeff. [15:59] So the truth is, I don't have sufficient information about anything that happened prior to these assassinations. [16:40] And to be able to answer your question, and I'm just not going to stand here and talk about something I don't know about. [16:49] So, but thank you for the question. [16:50] Yes, sir. [16:58] Well, I think they would prefer to have questions addressed to them separately and outside of this. [17:09] I can take one more question and there being no takers, I will say thank you to you all. [17:17] It's a solemn but important day in Minnesota law enforcement. [17:20] And I think we can all be gratified that a very good result happened in this case. [17:23] Thanks for coming.