This story, by Alan J. Keays, was first published by VTDigger, a nonprofit news outlet based in Vermont.
A defense attorney for a person linked to the fatal shooting of a U.S. border patrol agent in Vermont earlier this year anticipates his client will soon face charges that carry the death penalty.
That comment from federal public defender Steven Barth, who represents 21-year-old Teresa Youngblut, was made Tuesday afternoon during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Burlington, Vt.
Barth said he expected federal death penalty-eligible charges would be brought against Youngblut in “short order.” He did not elaborate on the charges during the hearing and declined to speak to reporters following the proceeding.
“You all have a good day,” he said to reporters as he walked away.
Acting U.S. Attorney for Vermont Michael Drescher, the top federal prosecutor in the state, declined comment following the hearing Tuesday afternoon.
Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt were stopped in January by federal agents on Interstate 91 in Coventry, which led to a shootout that left Bauckholt, a German national, and Border Patrol agent David “Chris” Maland dead.
Youngblut has since been charged with two federal offenses. One charge alleged that Youngblut “used a firearm while knowingly assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating, and interfering with a U.S. Border Patrol Agent while he was engaged in official duties.”
The second charge stated that Youngblut “knowingly carried, brandished and discharged a firearm” during a violent crime. Youngblut pleaded not guilty to the charges in February and has been held without bail.
Youngblut has not been directly charged with firing the fatal shot that killed Maland.
In a document released in May titled, “Summary of Incident: Border Patrol Agent and subject killed during vehicle stop in Vermont,” the U.S. Customs and Border Protection stated that Youngblut fired a shot during the incident and struck a Border Patrol agent. However, the report does not explicitly state who fired the shot that killed Maland.
Youngblut and Bauckholt allegedly had ties to a loosely connected group of people known as the “Zizians,” an offshoot of the San Francisco Bay Area so-called Rationalist movement. The offshoot has been tied to several other homicides, including in California and Pennsylvania.
Another person linked to that group, Maximilian Snyder, was arrested in the Jan. 17 homicide of a Vallejo, California, landlord. Snyder and Youngblut had previously applied for a marriage certificate in Washington, where they both resided in the past.
VTDigger is using Youngblut, Bauckholt and Snyder’s names as they appear in court documents. While all three people have appeared to use other names in some instances, VTDigger has not been able to confirm which name each person uses in their day-to-day lives or their gender identities.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier this year issued a directive calling to revive the federal death penalty and lift a moratorium on federal executions that had been in place during the Biden administration.
In that directive, Bondi called on U.S. attorneys in federal districts across the country to review cases and pursue the death penalty in those that could be eligible.
In that directive, Bondi specifically cited the case involving the fatal shooting in Vermont, writing: “This policy applies to the recent murder of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent David Maland during a traffic stop in Vermont.”
Federal prosecutors had signaled in May that new charges would be brought in the case, with a court filing stating, “the government has indicated that it is actively exploring additional charges.”
The roughly 30-minute hearing Tuesday largely focused on the handling of issues around the sharing of materials collected as part of the investigation in the case with the parties.
Youngblut sat quietly throughout the hearing between her two attorneys at the defense table, dressed in a maroon short-sleeve shirt and white pants. Youngblut and her two attorneys all wore medical masks covering parts of their faces.
Prior to the hearing, Youngblut’s defense attorney filed a sealed motion seeking to close the courtroom to the public for Tuesday’s proceeding, citing in part, that certain information about Youngblut may be disclosed, including the location of her pretrial detention.
“Further, the defense noted in its initial motion to seal that the media coverage of this case has been so regular and widespread that reporting on such matters may tend to taint any future jury pool,” a defense filing stated.
“For those reasons,” the document added, “the defense requests that the Court order the courtroom closed to the public for the upcoming hearing and the subsequent transcript sealed.”
Federal prosecutors submitted their own sealed filing objecting to the defense request.
Judge Christina Reiss denied the defense motion to close the courtroom to the public.
Also, the sealed documents submitted by both parties were publicly released following the hearing.
