Defense attorneys for Teresa Youngblut are challenging the Department of Justice’s fast-tracked capital punishment process in the case of the Jan. 20 shooting that killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland in Vermont. In a motion filed in federal court on June 30, the defense argues that the government’s accelerated timeline for deciding whether to pursue the death penalty is unconstitutional and fails to provide Youngblut, a 21-year-old woman accused of the shooting, a meaningful opportunity to present mitigating evidence.
Youngblut, who has been associated with the self-described vegan, anti-government, transgender-rights collective known as