Inset: Vance Boelter (Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Security footage allegedly shows Vance Boelter in a latex rubber mask outside the home of Sen. John Hoffman, prosecutors say (DOJ). Left inset: The mask that Vance Boelter allegedly wore during his coordinated shooting attacks (DOJ).
The man accused of gunning down two Minnesota state lawmakers, along with their spouses, in a series of “politically motivated” shooting attacks earlier this month has complained in court about the “horrible conditions” in jail — claiming he can’t sleep because he has no pillow, the lights are on 24/7, doors are being slammed constantly, and he has a neighbor who allegedly spreads feces around his cell.
“Your honor, I haven’t really slept in 12 to 14 days,” said assassination suspect Vance Boelter in court Friday in St. Paul, according to local outlet Bring Me The News. Boelter, 57, is charged with first-degree murder and other crimes related to his alleged June 15 shooting spree. He appeared in front of a federal judge for a preliminary examination and detention hearing, wearing an anti-suicide smock after being placed under suicide watch.
“I have never been suicidal and I am not suicidal now,” Boelter reportedly said, while his attorneys argued for him to be removed from suicide watch due to the alleged “conditions” he’s being subjected to, which also include claims of Boelter being physically sick and unable to sleep due to the neighboring inmate’s bathroom antics.
The sheriff who runs the jail tells a different story.
“Jail personnel checked live security camera footage of the alleged assassin’s cell, and he was resting peacefully, with his eyes closed,” said Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott in a statement to The Minnesota Star Tribune on Friday after Boelter’s detention hearing.
“He is not in a hotel,” Brott blasted, calling Boelter’s claims “offensive and disgusting,” as they came on the same day as the funerals of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman.
“He’s in jail, where a person belongs when they commit the heinous crimes he is accused of committing,” the sheriff said.
Boetler, who is a Green Isle resident, is facing federal and state charges — including multiple counts of murder, attempted murder and stalking — in connection to the killings of the Hortmans and shootings of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman. Cops say Boetler was wearing police gear and a mask during the shooting attacks and driving a vehicle resembling a police SUV with flashing lights, which was allegedly found outside the Hortman home with a manifesto inside that included the names of other targets.
Investigators allegedly found several guns, passports and about $10,000 in cash inside the vehicle.
Boelter could face the death penalty if convicted. The judge overseeing his case moved his preliminary examination and detention hearing to July 3. Boelter’s legal team had asked for a continuance on June 16, the day after his arrest, and the judge agreed Friday.
“He’s being treated like every other inmate in the same circumstance,” Brott insisted. “It’s too late now to complain about the conditions in which he has put himself.”
Boelter’s bail is expected to be discussed at the July 3 hearing, according to reports, as will a request from his lawyers to move him to another jail. Boelter thanked Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko for granting him the delay.
“I appreciate the motion to extend … to get some sleep,” Boelter reportedly said.
