This story was updated at 6:56 p.m.
BURLINGTON — Teresa Youngblut pleaded not guilty Friday to federal criminal charges that could carry the death penalty in the fatal shooting of a border patrol agent in northern Vermont.
Youngblut appeared at the hearing in federal court in Burlington in an oversized gray crewneck with braided hair. It was the first court hearing since prosecutors obtained an indictment with upgraded charges last month and filed notice they will seek Youngblut’s execution, if convicted of the capital crimes.
Dennis Robinson, one of three federal prosecutors in court, told the judge near the close of Friday’s hearing that the government’s probe was continuing.
“We are still actively investigating the case,” he said, adding there are “individuals that have worked together to commit the crimes we are investigating.”
Robinson did not provide names during the hearing of any other people who may be under investigation, or what crimes they may have committed. But he did say he has reason to believe individuals associated with a group are working together and communicating.
Youngblut, a 21-year-old former Seattle resident, stood beside attorneys and gazed down at the defendant’s table and entered denials to each charge through a green medical mask.
Judge Christina Reiss started with the murder count, asking Youngblut after reading the charge from the indictment, “How do you plead?”
“I plead not guilty,” Youngblut said.
Youngblut had initially been charged earlier this year with federal firearms and assault charges in connection with a traffic stop that led to the fatal shooting of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland on Interstate 91 in Coventry on the afternoon of Jan. 20.
The latest indictment charges Youngblut with murdering Maland and assaulting two other agents with a deadly weapon. The upgraded charges allege for the first time that Youngblut fired the fatal shot.
Youngblut remains held without bail following Friday’s hearing. Youngblut’s parents sat in the second row of the courtroom, about 15 feet behind the defendant’s table.
Prosecutors alleged in charging documents that after the traffic stop on I-91, Youngblut exited the Toyota Prius that had been pulled over and opened fire, resulting in a shootout with law enforcement.
Maland, 44, of Newport, was killed in the exchange of gunfire, court documents stated, as was Felix Bauckholt, a German national and a passenger in the vehicle Youngblut was driving.
Youngblut and Bauckholt had been linked to a loosely connected group of people known as the Zizians, whose members have been tied to at least six homicides across the country, including a landlord in California and a couple in Pennsylvania.
Prosecutors in Youngblut’s case have considered federal capital charges for some time, with U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi signaling shortly after taking office in February that she would be pushing for the charges as well.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on his inauguration day Jan. 20 — the same day as Maland’s fatal shooting — lifting a moratorium on the federal death penalty that was put in place during the Biden administration.
Bondi, in a later directive to federal prosecutors across the country, specifically cited Maland’s death as a case where capital charges would be warranted.
Vermont has not carried out an execution since 1954, and the state no longer has the death penalty, but Youngblut was charged in federal court, where capital punishment remains an option.
And that option loomed over the discussion in court Friday. The prosecution and defense had a lengthy debate about the sharing of material in the case. Reiss, the judge, said the goal was to prevent the prosecution from obtaining information they were not entitled to have access to.
Attorneys on both sides answered questions from the judge and proposed protocols to keep that from happening.
Youngblut’s lawyers argued it was an “unacceptable risk” for privileged information to end up in the hands of the prosecution.
“That does change every aspect of how we proceed,” attorney Julie Stelzig, one of three lawyers representing Youngblut, told the judge of the death penalty now on the table. Stelzig also spoke of the “heightened scrutiny” that has been brought to the case with the prosecution seeking her client’s execution.
Stelzig raised specific concerns that Youngblut’s confidential medical records would be incorrectly opened as part of the case. “Our client was shot and is still receiving frequent medical treatment” in jail, she said, referring to injuries Youngblut sustained in the shootout.
Youngblut’s parents remained silent when asked questions by reporters and walked swiftly past them outside the courthouse following Friday’s hearing. They got into their car across the street and stared straight ahead as they drove away.
