Zizian cult member accused in border patrol killing wants death penalty decision postponed

A woman charged in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont wants to delay the government’s decision on whether to seek the death penalty by at least six months.

Teresa Youngblut, of Washington state, is part of a cultlike group known as Zizians that has been connected to six killings in three states. She’s accused of firing at agent David Maland during a traffic stop on Jan. 20, the same day President Donald Trump was inaugurated and signed a sweeping executive order lifting the moratorium on federal executions.

Attorney General Pam Bondi later cited Maland’s death in directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in cases involving the murder of law enforcement officers unless they find significant mitigating circumstances. But Youngblut’s lawyers argue the government has set a “radically inadequate” and “extraordinarily rushed” timeline for that determination.

In a motion filed late Monday, Assistant Federal Public Defenders Steven Barth and Julie Stelzig said the government has set a July 28 deadline for them to explain why the death penalty should not be sought, even though Youngblut has yet to be charged with a crime eligible for such punishment.

For now, she’s charged only with using a deadly weapon against law enforcement and discharging a firearm during an assault with a deadly weapon. And even if a new indictment is imminent, she would only have a few weeks to submit evidence to the committee of lawyers that advises the attorney general on capital cases, her lawyers noted. In contrast, the average time between an indictment and a meeting of the committee is more than 14 months, they said.

“Faced with a July 28 deadline, the defense is bound to overlook not just a few isolated pieces of mitigating evidence, but whole areas of Ms. Youngblut’s life that may ultimately prove fertile sources of mitigation,” wrote the attorneys. “The government’s schedule promises to turn Ms. Youngblut’s submission into a near-pointless formality.”

Though Youngblut sought out a public defender experienced in death penalty cases early on, the first qualified lawyer withdrew and a new one did not join the team until recently, her lawyers said. They attributed the delay in part to a shortage of such lawyers due to the significant uptick in potential death penalty cases.

Youngblut’s attorneys have asked the court to give her until at least Jan. 30, 2026, to submit her mitigation evidence to the committee and to prohibit prosecutors from making a decision about the death penalty until after the material has been reviewed. Prosecutors did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

At the time of the shooting, authorities had been watching Youngblut and her companion, Felix Bauckholt, for several days after a Vermont hotel employee reported seeing them carrying guns and wearing black tactical gear. She’s accused of opening fire on border agents who pulled the car over on Interstate 91. An agent fired back, killing Bauckholt and wounding Youngblut.

The pair were among the followers of Jack LaSota, a transgender woman also known as Ziz whose online writing about veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence attracted young, highly intelligent computer scientists who shared anarchist beliefs. Members of the group have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on a California landlord in 2022, the landlord’s subsequent killing earlier this year, and the deaths of a Pennsylvania couple in between.

LaSota and two others face weapons and drug charges in Maryland, where they were arrested in February, while LaSota faces additional federal charges of being an armed fugitive. Maximilian Snyder, who is charged with killing the landlord in California, had applied for a marriage license with Youngblut. Michelle Zajko, whose parents were killed in Pennsylvania, was arrested with LaSota in Maryland, and has been charged with providing weapons to Youngblut in Vermont.