ST. PAUL, Minn. — Vance Boelter entered not guilty pleas to state charges at a court hearing Wednesday, when a judge also accepted his demand for a speedy trial and postponed a ruling on whether to restrict his access to evidence in light of recent online posts prosecutors say he authored while jailed.

In filings submitted before the hearing, Boelter also said he plans to argue reasonable use of force and justifiable taking of a life in the June 14, 2025, shootings.

Hennepin County District Judge Juan Hoyos set a trial date for Nov. 2, finding “good cause” to go one day past the 60-day window required when a defendant demands a speedy trial.

The court hearing came six weeks after Boelter, 59, of Green Isle, Minn., was sentenced to consecutive life sentences plus 40 years in federal prison for the June 2025 shootings that killed DFL state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their Brooklyn Park home, and severely wounded DFL state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home in Champlin. The gunfire also struck the Hortmans’ dog, Gilbert, who was later euthanized.

In state court, Boelter faces two counts of first-degree premeditated murder, four counts of first-degree premeditated attempted murder, felony cruelty to an animal and impersonating a police officer.

Boelter’s online posts

The prosecution on Aug. 17 filed a motion for a protective order to manage the discovery process, saying Boelter’s recent writings online “raise significant concern that he will attempt to release or publicize the content of investigative materials, if he has unregulated access to them.”

According to Hennepin County prosecutors, Boelter, while jailed awaiting state prosecution, has authored several writings that were transcribed to Substack by a close friend.

While earlier postings focused on Boelter’s personal and professional history, he turned his attention to the state’s case and the criminal proceedings in an Aug. 31 post, the memo said.

“The post contains a calculated and incendiary description of the criminal proceedings against (Boelter) in both State and Federal court and details Mr. Boelter’s theories regarding being ‘silenced’ by the government,” Assistant Hennepin County Attorneys Krista White and Paige Starkey said in a Tuesday memo to support the motion.

“(Boelter) explicitly and repeatedly complains of not being permitted to ‘speak’ and ‘share evidence’ about his crimes,” the memo continued. “He imagines a previous contingency between state and federal plea negotiations and claims the dissolution of that (fictional) connection occurred by divine intervention, allowing the State’s case to move forward ‘so that the truth could come out before the midterm elections.’”

Prosecutors asked that the defense receive a copy of discovery materials “within a framework meant to safeguard the privacy of victims and others and the integrity of the evidence.”

They noted that, as in any murder case, the evidence includes highly sensitive and personal material relating to the victims, including graphic video and images, medical records and detailed, private information such as home addresses and contact information and names of family members.

While Boelter has a right to a public trial, prosecutors argued, “victims of violent crime do not choose their involvement in the criminal legal system, they are not parties in criminal cases, and they retain virtually no ability to limit access to the otherwise private details inherent in a criminal case.”

Boelter’s defense team argued in a Friday court filing the protective order is unnecessary and unconstitutional and is meant to “limit the manner of how defense counsel use the information in preparing the case, and to otherwise hinder and impede the defense.”

Defense motions

In other Friday court filings, Boelter said he intends to rely upon defenses of reasonable use of force and justifiable taking of a life in the shootings. Boelter, through his public defenders Bryan Leary and Raissa Carpenter, contends he was “effecting a lawful arrest” under the state’s citizen arrest statute.

The prosecution noted Wednesday in court they have filed a motion seeking to deny giving Boelter the opportunity to assert the defenses.

In additional filings Friday, Boelter asked the judge to move the trial outside of Hennepin County because of “excessive pretrial publicity” and to lower his $5 million bail.

The bond discussion led to some back-and-forth discussion in court Wednesday. Leary said Boelter would speak on the motion, which the judge denied.

Leary then read a bail argument statement written by Boelter.

“Your Honor, the Washington D.C Department of Justice was given a criminal referral by J.D. Vance to look into Gov. Tim Walz for fraud,” the statement read. “Why are they waiting to come to Minnesota to start doing their jobs?”

Prosecutor White interjected, saying, “I thought we were addressing bail. I’m at a loss at what we’re talking about right now.”

After Hoyos called for a sidebar, he allowed Leary to finish Boelter’s argument.

“Your Honor, I am no assassin,” Boelter’s statement read. “I am a patriot. I always have been and always will be.”

In the Friday court filing, Boelter argued the charges and high bail are “politically motivated to shield the Democrats and keep the public from hearing what has been going on in Minnesota.”

White called Boelter’s in-court argument “conspiracy theories and ramblings” and asked that his bail remain at $5 million. Hoyos agreed, denying the request.

At his first court appearance Aug. 3, Boelter asked the judge about his rights to free speech and religious freedom, claiming that he has not been able to give a full statement to law enforcement or meet with a priest since he’s been in federal custody.

‘Closely divided’ Legislature

Boelter admitted in federal court to driving to the homes of four lawmakers in the morning hours of June 14, 2025, in a black Ford Explorer SUV designed to look like a law enforcement vehicle, and that he carried out the shootings of the Hoffmans and Hortmans while wearing a silicone mask and dressed as a law enforcement officer.

Federal prosecutors said Boelter’s motivation for the shootings was political.

“He was consumed with those he disagreed with,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Forbes told the court at Boelter’s July 23 sentencing. “In this case, it was Democrats.”

Boelter knew the Minnesota Legislature “was so closely divided that by killing four state legislators, the inevitable result would be a shift in the balance of power,” federal prosecutors wrote in a pre-sentencing memo.

When prosecutors announced the federal indictment in July 2025, they released a rambling handwritten letter they say Boelter wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel in which he confessed to the shootings. In the letter, Boelter claimed he was “trained by the U.S. military off the books, conducted missions on behalf of the U.S. military in Asia, the Middle East and Africa,” Joe Thompson, then-acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, told reporters.

The letter also said Gov. Tim Walz told Boelter to kill U.S. Sens. Klobuchar and Tina Smith and that people had threatened to hurt his family if he didn’t do so. When a reporter said it was probably clear that Boelter had not been trained by the U.S. military and that it was “all a fantasy,” Thompson said, “Yes, I agree.”

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