University of St. Thomas School of Law Professor Mark Osler spoke to The Associated Press regarding the potential sentencing of Vance Boelter, the man charged with killing a prominent Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another.
From the story:
(Boelter) could face something that is a rarity for Minnesota but could become more common under the Trump administration: the death penalty.
Minnesota abolished capital punishment in 1911, and the state’s last execution was a botched hanging in 1906. But federal prosecutors announced charges against Vance Boelter on Monday that can carry the death penalty.
It’s not unheard of for state and federal prosecutors to both pursue criminal cases for the same offense, especially in high-profile matters. ...
“Usually murder cases are overwhelmingly handled in state courts,” said Mark Osler, a death penalty expert at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis. “Clearly this is something of national interest. And that seemed to play a role in the decision that the Justice Department is making here.”
Osler, who formerly served as Moriarty’s deputy county attorney and head of her criminal division, as well as assistant U.S. attorney in Detroit, acknowledged that there are often tensions between state and federal prosecutors.
“There’s no doubt that it’s complicated,” Osler said. “And it’s hard to avoid the sense of the older sibling grabbing something away from the younger sibling.”
