A judge granted the prosecution’s request to deem it a “complex case,” meaning they will be granted more time to process thousands of pages of evidence and e-files.

MINNEAPOLIS — The man charged with killing the top Democrat in the Minnesota House and her husband, and wounding a state senator and his wife, will likely not go on trial until next spring at the earliest due to the complexity of the case. 

Vance Boelter appeared in federal court Thursday morning for an arraignment hearing, during which he pleaded not guilty to the battery of charges he faces. 

Boelter, 58, of Green Isle, Minnesota, was indicted July 15 on six counts of murder, stalking and firearms violations in the shooting deaths of State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and the wounding of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. The murder charges could carry the federal death penalty, though prosecutors say that decision is several months away.

During Thursday’s court appearance, U.S. Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster granted prosecutors their motion to declare it a “complex case,” which allows them an extended timeline to prepare. The U.S. Attorney’s Office told the judge there are tens of thousands of pages, hundreds of gigabytes of media files, and 1,700 media files to process and examine- a number that will likely grow. 

Judge Foster set the following timeline for Boelter’s prosecution:

The government has 60 days from today (Oct. 6) to make disclosuresBoelter’s defense team must submit its disclosures by October 14A status conference to give updates on the case will be held Nov. 12.The court will not set a deadline for the U.S. Attorney’s Office to make its determination on whether it will seek the death penalty

KARE 11’s Gordon Severson was in the courtroom for Boelter’s arraignment. He says based on the amount of evidence involved and the schedule set by Judge Foster, it appears the earliest Boelter’s trial could begin is this coming spring. 

When Boelter was indicted in July, prosecutors released a rambling handwritten letter they say Boelter wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel in which he confessed to the June 14 shootings of Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. However, the letter doesn’t make clear why he targeted the Hortmans or Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, who survived. 

Boelter’s federal defender, Manny Atwal, said at the time that the weighty charges did not come as a surprise, but she has not commented on the substance of the allegations or any defense strategies.

Before Thursday’s proceedings, prosecutors were already moving to designate the proceedings as a “complex case” so that standard speedy trial requirements wouldn’t apply, saying both sides will need plenty of time to review the voluminous evidence.

“The investigation of this case arose out of the largest manhunt in Minnesota’s history,” they wrote. “Accordingly, the discovery to be produced by the government will include a substantial amount of investigative material and reports from more than a dozen different law enforcement agencies at the federal, state, and local levels.”

They said the evidence will include potentially thousands of hours of video footage, tens of thousands of pages of responses to dozens of grand jury subpoenas, and data from numerous electronic devices seized during the investigation.

Boelter’s motivations remain murky. Friends have described him as an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views who had been struggling to find work. Authorities said Boelter made long lists of politicians in Minnesota and other states — all or mostly Democrats.

In a series of cryptic notes to The New York Times through his jail’s electronic messaging service, Boelter suggested his actions were partly rooted in the Christian commandment to love one’s neighbor. “Because I love my neighbors prior to June 14th I conducted a 2 year long undercover investigation,” he wrote.

In messages published earlier by the New York Post, Boelter insisted the shootings had nothing to do with his opposition to abortion or his support for President Donald Trump, but he declined to elaborate.

“There is little evidence showing why he turned to political violence and extremism,” the acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Joe Thompson, told reporters last month. He also reiterated that prosecutors consider Hortman’s killing a “political assassination.”

Prosecutors say Boelter was disguised as a police officer and driving a fake squad car early June 14 when he went to the Hoffmans’ home in the Minneapolis suburb of Champlin. He shot the senator nine times, and his wife eight times, officials said.

Boelter later went to the Hortmans’ home in nearby Brooklyn Park and killed both of them, authorities said. Their dog, Gilbert, was so gravely injured that he had to be euthanized. Boelter surrendered the next night.

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