Convicted killer Vance Boelter pleaded not guilty to several state murder charges and espoused numerous conspiracy theories in Hennepin County District Court on Wednesday, telling the court through his attorney that he was “no assassin.”

“I’m a patriot,” Boelter said. “Always have been, always will be.”

His trial was set for Nov. 2.

Although Boelter pleaded guilty in federal court and was sentenced to life in prison for killing Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and shooting Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, he still has several outstanding charges in Hennepin County. Those include several counts of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, along with an animal cruelty charge for shooting the Hortmans’ dog, Gilbert, who was later euthanized. That court process is separate from the federal case.

Boelter looked over the shoulder of his attorney, Bryan Leary, as Leary read his statement into the record over the objections of Hennepin County prosecutors and an initial attempt to stop the statement by Judge Juan Hoyos.

“I’m at a loss,” Hoyos said over the necessity of the statement during a bail argument. After a brief conference with the prosecution and defense, Leary was allowed to continue reading Boelter’s statement.

Boelter said it was his belief that Vice President J.D. Vance had delayed a fraud investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison “to protect Democrats from evidence that I have been waiting to give law enforcement for 14 months.”

He also said that China has numerous agents working out of its embassy in Minnesota and that is both a national security threat and “impacts my case.”

China does not have an embassy or consulate in Minnesota.

Wednesday’s statement was the latest in a deluge of commentary from Boelter that has emerged in the wake of his federal conviction, where he was given two consecutive life sentences plus 40 additional years after pleading guilty to killing the Hortmans and shooting the Hoffmans.

The Hoffmans, members of the Hortman family and several legislators were in attendance at court on Wednesday.

His defense attorneys will press forward a legal argument that Boelter’s killing of the Hortmans was a justifiable taking of life because he was “effecting a lawful arrest.”

Hennepin County prosecutors Krista White and Paige Starkey have asked that Boelter’s defense be denied.

On top of legal filings between prosecutors and defense attorneys that show how contentious his state trial could be, Boelter has also been writing expansively on the online publishing platform Substack in recent weeks.

While several of the posts are about religion, abortion, suicide and Africa, a recent post was titled, “What are they hiding.”

In it, Boelter made allegations about how his state and federal prosecution has been handled, including that former acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Joe Thompson rushed charges to pursue a failed death penalty case; that Boelter was held in solitary confinement for a year to limit facts from getting out; and that his case has been delayed to protect Democrats in midterm elections.

In a filing on Tuesday, White and Starkey noted that prosecutors had been monitoring Boelter’s communications and “are aware that these posts are, indeed, personally authored by (Boelter) and transcribed to Substack by his close friend.”

The hearing on Wednesday also focused on several issues before the court, including bail and a protective order on evidence. Hoyos ruled that bail would stay at $5 million and Boelter would stay in state custody.

Starkey and White asked Hoyos to issue a protective order restricting how evidence could be handled by Boelter and his attorneys, which includes both Leary and Raissa Carpenter.

Prosecutors requested that Boelter only be allowed to view evidence when one of his attorneys is present.

Leary and Carpenter responded that because of jail restrictions on visitations and the hundreds of hours of material that needs to be reviewed, that protective order would be restrictive and “limits the time that Mr. Boelter can spend reviewing the evidence in his case, increases the amount of money that taxpayers are spending on this case, and will create delays.”

Starkey and White countered in their filing that Boelter’s posts on Substack showed he is “eager for public attention for his delusional narrative of attempting a ‘citizen’s arrest’ of the victims and other baseless claims.”

“Given the opportunity to access and possess discovery materials outside the presence of his attorneys or their staff, there is every reason to believe Mr. Boelter will do exactly as he wishes and ‘share’ the evidence publicly, resulting in extreme prejudice to both parties, the victims, and the administration of justice,” they wrote.

Hoyos did not immediately rule on the protective order.

The murder of the Hortmans and the attempted murder of the Hoffmans and their daughter, Hope Hoffman, rocked the state of Minnesota and led to state and federal charges against Boelter.

While Boelter’s appearances in federal court were largely subdued, at his first appearance in state court last month, Boelter made several requests of the court, including that Sen. Amy Klobuchar testify about whether or not she knew him.

He continued that approach on Wednesday, albeit this time through his attorney.

In another attempt to draw parallels between Boelter and Minnesota’s political apparatus, his public defenders included a photo of Boelter with Rep. Angie Craig in a recent filing and noted that Boelter “was appointed by Governor (Mark) Dayton and by Governor (Tim) Walz to The Governor’s Workforce Development Board.”

Meanwhile, prosecutors reiterated in their filing: “Court is not left to speculate about Defendant’s indiscriminate desire for attention; Defendant has expressed it clearly and repeatedly.”

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