Vance Boelter, suspect in Minnesota political killings, pleads guilty in federal case
An exterior view of the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility where suspect Vance Boelter is being held before court appearances on June 16, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Steven Garcia/Getty Images)
John and Yvette Hoffman sat in the front row of the federal courtroom as Boelter admitted to firing multiple shots at them, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
When Boelter admitted that he shot Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman several times and then put a gun to her head and killed her, sobs broke out in the courtroom, KSTP reported.
Boelter initially pleaded not guilty to six federal counts, including murder, attempted murder and stalking.
This week, a Justice Department spokesperson said federal prosecutors would not seek the death penalty because a federal judge ruled earlier this year in an unrelated murder case that interstate stalking charges do not rise to the level to support a capital crime.
The crimes unfolded on June 14, 2025, when Boelter allegedly disguised himself as a police officer and fatally shot Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their home.
That same day he allegedly drove to the home of Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and shot the lawmaker and his wife, Yvette, and attempted to shoot their daughter, according to prosecutors.
Following the attacks, police said they found a notebook in Boelter’s abandoned, fake police car containing a list of elected officials who investigators suspect were targeted in a plot that the Minnesota U.S. attorney described at the time as the “stuff of nightmares.”
Prosecutors said Boelter traveled to the homes of two other state lawmakers only to find no one at those locations.
Boelter has also pleaded not guilty to state charges of murder and attempted murder.
A poster of celebrity real estate agents Tal and Oren Alexander along with their brother Alon (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A jury has found the Alexander brothers guilty on all counts in their federal sex trafficking trial in New York City.
Jury deliberations began Thursday for the former real estate titans, Oren and Alon Alexander, 38-year-old twins, along with their brother, Tal Alexander, 39, who have denied sexually assaulting anyone or running a sex trafficking conspiracy, as prosecutors have charged. They pleaded not guilty.
Throughout the five-week trial, 11 women testified that they were sexually assaulted by one or more of the brothers. At least eight of the women claimed they were drugged by one of the Alexanders.
“These are chilling, reprehensible, and unacceptable acts,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, whose office prosecuted the case, said in a statement following the verdict. “We commend the victims for their courage in coming forward and testifying at the trial. They bravely overcame the pain of reliving the abuses inflicted upon them and, as a result, prevented others from becoming victims.”
A spokesperson for the Alexander family called the verdict “deeply disappointing.”
“We believe there are substantial problems with the evidence and the way this case was presented,” the spokesperson, Juda S. Engelmayer, said in a statement. “The legal process does not end here. We will continue fighting every day until justice is done and the three brothers regain their freedom.”
An attorney for one of the brothers also vowed to keep fighting.
“There are a lot of avenues open to us. We’re not gonna stop,” Marc Agnifilo, who represented Oren Alexander, said outside court on Monday. “We believe in our client’s innocence and we’re not gonna stop fighting until we prevail. And we believe that we will one day prevail.”
The brothers’ federal sentencing has been set for Aug. 6.
Oren and Tal Alexander gained notoriety in New York’s luxury real estate market through their company, Alexander Group, and have been under federal investigation alongside Alon since late 2024.
They have been accused of luring women to nightclubs and parties, then drugging and sexually assaulting them.
In his closing statement, federal prosecutor Andrew Jones said there is “crushing evidence” that the brothers “masqueraded as party boys when really they were predators” who committed an “array of federal sex offenses.”
Jones recounted the graphic accounts of the alleged victims and said the wealthy brothers had a “playbook” luring women with exclusive parties, yachts and luxury travel so they could assault them.
“Once they had their victims where they wanted them, the defendants assaulted them using force, using drugs, or using both,” Jones said.
Then, the brothers allegedly bragged about their exploits in blog posts with titles like “It’s not rape if… you use her tears as lube” and “It’s not rape if… she secretly wants it.”
Jones told the jury the allegations are corroborated “by the sheer number of other victims who testified here — women who never met each other, who have each led different lives, in different professions, sometimes in different cities. But they had one horrific thing in common — they were each raped by these men. And they described near identical experiences of their assaults.”
During closing arguments, defense attorney Howard Srebnick conceded the brothers could be “obnoxious” and their conduct “inappropriate,” but he told the jury, “Nobody was being assaulted, nobody had been trafficked.”
Srebnick urged jurors to reject the government’s case against his client, Alon Alexander, insisting prosecutors failed to meet their burden of proof.
In her closing argument, Deanna Paul said the brothers “are not mobsters,” though sometimes they acted like “entitled a——-.”
A defense attorney for Tal Alexander, Paul argued that prosecutors have asked the jury to “connect dots that really aren’t there.”
In his summations, Agnifilo suggested to the jury that the victims in this case were dissatisfied with their encounters with the Alexanders, which motivated them to testify in this trial.
Alex Murdaugh, convicted of killing his wife and youngest son, listens as his attorneys Dick Harpootlian, left, and Phil Barber speak during a judicial hearing at the Richland County Judicial Center in Columbia, South Carolina, on Jan. 29, 2024. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The South Carolina Supreme Court has overturned the murder convictions of Alex Murdaugh.
The former attorney was sentenced in 2023 to life in prison for the murder convictions of his wife Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, 52, and younger son, Paul Murdaugh, 22. Both were found shot inside their home in 2021.
The Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Murdaugh must have a new trial, citing the actions of former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill, who has been charged with perjury, obstructing justice and misconduct in relation to the murder trial.
Murdaugh’s attorneys contend that Hill tampered with the jury by “advising it not to believe Murdaugh’s testimony and other defense evidence, pressuring it to reach a quick guilty verdict, misrepresenting information to the trial court in an attempt to have the court remove a juror she believed to favor the defense.”
Murdaugh was also convicted on several financial crimes following the murder trial and is serving a 27-year sentence on state charges and a 40-year sentence on federal charges related to those crimes.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Harris County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Bureau Major Earl Dean speaks to reporters after a man and his girlfriend were found dead in a murder-suicide after an hours-long standoff with police. (Harris County Sheriff’s Office)
(HOUSTON) — A man and woman were found dead in a Houston apartment after an hours-long standoff with the sheriff’s department, according to officials.
A 20-year-old woman and the 23-year-old suspect were found dead in the apartment, Harris County Sheriff’s Department Patrol Bureau Maj. Earl Dean said at a press conference on Monday.
Deputies received a report of man “frantic” on his phone just before 2 p.m. Monday, saying he “accidentally shot his girlfriend,” Dean said.
At the scene, deputies made contact with the man, who refused to obey their commands and threatened to kill himself. The man then barricaded himself inside the apartment, Dean said.
Deputies contacted additional resources and a SWAT team took over the scene, according to Dean.
After several hours of the crisis negotiation team talking to the man, trying to get him to surrender, the man refused all commands, Dean said.
“At one point we did deploy gas into the apartment complex. The male retreated onto the balcony where he suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Dean said.
“This is very unfortunate,” Dean said.
No deputies discharged their weapons during the incident, according to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
The circumstances surrounding both deaths remain under investigation. There is no ongoing threat to the public, Gonzalez said.
