Trump admin fast-tracks death penalty case for transgender cult suspect in Border Patrol killing: attorneys

Fox News

3 days ago

Attorneys for Teresa Youngblut, the woman accused in the Jan. 20 shooting that killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland, are accusing the Justice Department of orchestrating a fast-tracked path to capital punishment that violates her constitutional rights.
In a June 30 motion filed in federal court, Youngblut's defense team called the government's timeline for deciding whether to pursue the death penalty "unprecedentedly tight" and warned it could render the pretrial process "a near-pointless formality."
"This Court should step in to ensure Ms. Youngblut receives a meaningful opportunity to persuade the government not to pursue the death penalty," the motion says.
Youngblut, 21, has been linked by investigators to "Ziz," a fringe, self-described vegan, anti-government, transgender-rights collective that federal authorities say may be connected to multiple homicides throughout the U.S.
According to a federal affidavit, Youngblut was driving a Prius with German national Felix Bauckholt, who is also an alleged member of Ziz, when they were stopped by Border Patrol agents in Coventry, Vermont, on Jan. 20.
Prosecutors allege Youngblut drew a .40-caliber Glock and fired without warning, starting a shootout that left both Bauckholt and Maland dead.
READ THE MOTION – APP USERS, CLICK HERE
In their motion, Youngblut's defense attorneys, Steven Barth and Julie Stelzig, argued that the Department of Justice is pushing forward with a July 28 deadline to present mitigating evidence to its Capital Case Review Committee, despite not having filed a death-eligible indictment.
The typical federal timeline, they argued, allows for more than a year.
"The timeline being imposed in this case is vastly out of step with the historical practice of the Department of Justice," they wrote, citing data showing a nearly 15-month average between indictment and mitigation presentation in comparable cases.
The defense asked the court to extend the deadline to Jan. 30, 2026, arguing that the current pace denies Youngblut due process.
READ ATTORNEY GENERAL PAM BONDI'S FEB. 5 MEMORANDUM – APP USERS, CLICK HERE
The defense argued that Youngblut's case has been fast-tracked due to a Feb. 5 memorandum issued by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
In the memorandum, Bondi specifically named the Maland case as an example where "absent significant mitigating circumstances," the death penalty should be sought for the murder of a federal law enforcement officer.
Bondi's directive lifted the federal moratorium on executions set in place by the Biden administration. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Vermont for comment.
Youngblut's team argued in the motion that the defense had limited time to prepare for the case, noting that Youngblut's "learned counsel," an attorney with experience in capital cases, was only appointed on June 12 after a previous lawyer withdrew.
The motion also noted that only recently has the team retained a mitigation specialist, and they are still working through thousands of pages of discovery as well as facing limited access to Youngblut, who is detained over two hours away from counsel.
The DOJ's deadline, the defense said, "virtually ensures that [Youngblut's] mitigation presentation has no realistic chance of serving its purpose."
In a Jan. 27 motion for pretrial detention, the government alleged that Youngblut had no stable residence, had an extensive travel history and associations with individuals under investigation in a double homicide in Pennsylvania and another killing in Vallejo, California.
The government also pointed to Youngblut's journal, which allegedly referenced LSD usage and "high vibration" trips that led prosecutors to argue that she was a flight risk.
The June 30 motion also included supporting letters from defense counsel and a declaration from Matthew Rubenstein, the director of the Capital Resource Counsel Project, who attested that the DOJ's current timeline falls outside established norms in federal death penalty proceedings.
If the court declines to intervene, Youngblut's attorneys warned that the current course could trigger costly delays and the misuse of capital punishment.
"An artificial rush in the authorization process may end up backfiring," the defense cautioned, "resulting in avoidable delay, wasted resources, and the arbitrary imposition of the most serious punishment our legal system allows."
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Federal Public Defender – District of Vermont for comment.