MINNEAPOLIS — Vance Boelter’s defense team pressed forward with a legal argument Friday that he was justified in taking the lives of state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and attempting to kill several other lawmakers because he was “effecting a lawful arrest.”

State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, survivors of that political assassination plot, were appalled by the approach.

They emerged from Hennepin County District Court defiant, holding hands. Before a throng of TV cameras, Yvette described how it was retraumatizing for the victim’s families to hear “blatant lies” peddled on behalf of a man who has already admitted to his crimes.

“He pleaded guilty in federal court,” said Yvette Hoffman, who was shot nine times alongside her husband at their Champlin home in the early morning hours of June 14, 2025. “This should be over. This should be done. This is a clown show.”

“Every detail, he admitted to,” she added. “So to hear the complete opposite here is Twilight Zone-ish.”

In July, a federal judge sentenced Boelter to two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years for carrying out the most shocking act of political violence in Minnesota history. The judge, John Tunheim, called the shooting “an attack on democracy itself.”

But Boelter also faces criminal charges in Hennepin County District Court, including several counts of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, one of which is related to targeting the Hoffmans’ daughter, Hope. He also faces an animal cruelty charge for shooting the Hortmans’ dog, Gilbert, who was later euthanized. That process runs separately from the federal prosecution.

In the weeks since his federal case concluded, Boelter has — through an unknown proxy — written extensively on the digital platform Substack, saying that he disavowed his previous plea agreement.

The Hoffmans, who rarely grant interviews, approached reporters following a nearly 90-minute procedural hearing at the county government center Friday morning. They had listened in the gallery as Vance’s defense attorneys, Bryan Leary and Raissa Carpenter, signaled their intent to try to convince a jury that Boelter’s use of force was reasonable given what he believed at the time.

Prosecutors Krista White and Paige Starkey have called that defense “baseless” and asked that Judge Juan Hoyos deny it.

Hoyos has yet to rule on the matter.

The Hoffmans contend there can be no serious claim of self-defense in this case.

“The dude showed up at our door dressed as a police officer — gun was pulled in my face as I opened the door,” John Hoffman said. “I mean, there’s no defense to that. I had my neck pillow on.”

Boelter should spend the rest of his life behind locked doors, he added, and “never see the light of day.”

“He’s not a patriot,” Yvette quipped, throwing Boelter’s own words from an earlier court appearance back in his face. “He’s a piece of shit.”

Also Friday, Hoyos heard arguments from both parties related to a change of venue request, wording for the pending jury questionnaire and basic discovery issues.

At Boelter’s urging, Carpenter noted that her client is asking to view physical evidence in the case, namely any preserved windows from the Hortman’s Brooklyn Park house.

“[It] would potentially show that police were firing into the Hortman’s home,” she told the judge. The defense team also inquired about Melissa Hortman’s cell phone, which they believe recorded at least part of the encounter.

Last week, Hoyos ordered three out of state witnesses to appear at trial for the prosecution. One is a Google employee who is expected to testify about Nest camera videos from the Hortmans’ house that show their murder.

Those requests also provided the first indication that the trial, which is set to begin on Nov. 2, could run for weeks.

The Hoffmans said they expect to spend Election Day in court.

—Jeff Day of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.

©2026 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.