By Rob Kuznia, Andy Rose, Taylor Romine

Minneapolis (CNN) — The man who killed a former Minnesota House Speaker and her husband, and who seriously injured another lawmaker and his wife, agreed to a deal with federal prosecutors Thursday, ensuring he will not be put to death.

Vance Boelter, 58, entered guilty pleas to murder and stalking charges along with firearms offenses during a court hearing in Minneapolis, nearly a year after he committed the political assassinations of Democrat Melissa Hortman and her husband and, in a separate shooting, wounded Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife.

The Hoffmans were among the spectators who filled the courtroom gallery along with several members of Boelter’s family.

The government recommended a sentence of two consecutive life terms plus 40 years. Judge John R. Tunheim accepted the recommended sentence and said he would schedule a formal sentencing hearing later this summer where victims would be allowed to speak.

“There is no justice for Mark and Melissa Hortman, and there is not justice when our family and our state will never truly heal,” the Hoffman family said in a statement following the hearing. “While the legal process may provide accountability, true healing requires something more from all of us.”

Victim’s family cries as Boelter gives details of killings

For the first time, Boelter acknowledged in court he planned the murders months in advance and disguised himself as a police officer during the shootings.

When Boelter arrived at the Hoffman home in Champlin, Minnesota, John Hoffman answered the door. Boelter falsely stated there had been a shooting and asked if there were guns in the home. After Hoffman answered no, Boelter ordered the family to put their hands up and then shot John and Yvette Hoffman multiple times.

John Hoffman was critically injured, but both he and his wife survived after surgery.

Boelter’s confession about murdering the Hortmans was even more detailed.

Approaching their front door in a suburb north of Minneapolis while wearing a police outfit, a wig and a mask, Boelter pounded on the door and shouted, “Police, welfare check!” When Mark Hortman answered, Boelter told him there had been shots fired.

“Good God, I was asleep,” Hortman responded.

Boelter asked if there was anyone else in the home. Mark Hortman said only his wife, Melissa, was in the house, and Boelter responded he needed to see her. When Mark Hortman later demanded credentials, Boelter pulled out his gun and shot Mark multiple times and then shot Melissa Hortman as she tried to run upstairs.

Boelter acknowledged shooting Melissa Hortman point-blank in the head, an admission that prompted muffled crying from friends and relatives of the Hortmans in the audience.

Plea deal approved by attorney general

Minnesota’s top federal prosecutor said Boelter’s willingness to accept to longest possible prison sentences on all charges was the only thing that prompted them to drop the possibility of the death penalty.

“The truth is, when you have a defendant that is prepared to plead guilty to consecutive life terms plus (40 years) to ensure that he never sees freedom again in his entire life, that was an opportunity that we just could not pass up,” said Daniel Rosen, US Attorney for the District of Minnesota.

The plea agreement was approved by Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche, according to a court filing Wednesday, a decision Rosen said was the right choice.

“There is absolutely no daylight between me and the attorney general on this, and we see it the exact same way,” Rosen said.

The day of the shootings, Boelter was dressed like a police officer, wearing tactical armor, a police-style badge and a silicone mask when he showed up heavily armed at the lawmakers’ homes, authorities said.

The first call to 911 came from the Hoffmans’ adult daughter, Hope, according to a family statement, who also locked the door on Boelter.

Concerned about the possibility of a politically motivated attack, police conducted a welfare check on the Hortmans’ home and encountered Boelter standing outside near the front door, where he began firing shots into the home. He got away by opening fire on officers, prosecutors said, leaving behind a hit list with nearly 70 names and three AK-47 assault-style rifles and a 9mm handgun in his vehicle.

Boelter was finally captured after a frenzied 43-hour search in what has been described as the largest manhunt in the state’s history. Police caught up to Boelter in a field in Green Isle, Minnesota, arresting him a mile from his home.

Between the shootings at the Hoffman and the Hortman homes, Boelter went to the homes of two other state lawmakers who were not named in the indictment, but was not able to make contact with the families, according to investigators.

Boelter still faces separate state charges

Boelter ran “a planned campaign of stalking and violence, designed to inflict fear, injure, and kill members of the Minnesota state legislature and their families,” federal prosecutors said in an affidavit. The attacks were highly planned, authorities said, with Boelter possibly spending months to gather information about his targets and buy supplies.

Authorities recovered both guns used in the shootings, as well as a handwritten letter to FBI Director Kash Patel found inside Boelter’s abandoned car, authorities previously said.

Boelter still faces state charges, including two counts of first-degree premeditated murder and four counts of attempted first-degree murder. The longest sentence he faces if convicted in the state case is life in prison without parole. Minnesota abolished its death penalty more than a century ago.

“Mr. Boelter will sit in a Hennepin County courtroom and be held accountable for his actions,” County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement.

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