A 21-year-old woman facing the death penalty, after being charged in the January fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent, is seeking a six-month delay in the government’s capital punishment decision.
Teresa Youngblut — who investigators say is part of the cult-like group known as “Zizians” or “Ziz” — is accused of fatally shooting Border Patrol Agent David C. Maland on January 20 while he was performing a traffic stop in Vermont.
The fringe, self-proclaimed vegan, pro-transgender, and anti-government group, Zizians, has reportedly been linked to six killings in three states.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi later directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in cases involving the killing of law enforcement officers, as long as they were “absent significant mitigating circumstances.”
Bondi went on to cite Maland’s death as an example of a case in which significant mitigating circumstances were not found.
Youngblut’s defense team is now arguing that the suspect’s case has been fast-tracked due to the Attorney General’s February 5 memo to federal prosecutors, according to a report by Fox News.
Early last month, Youngblut’s lawyers were informed they should prepare to meet with the Attorney General’s Review Committee on Capital Cases on July 28 to explain why the government should not seek the death penalty, according to a report by WCAX.
In a motion filed on Monday, the suspect’s legal team accused the government of setting a “radically inadequate” and “extraordinarily rushed” timeline for submitting mitigating evidence to the committee that reviews the Attorney General’s capital cases.
“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,” Assistant Federal Public Defenders Steven Barth and Julie Stelzig wrote.
So far, Youngblut has only been charged with using a deadly weapon against law enforcement and discharging a firearm during an assault with a deadly weapon, charges that do not meet the standard for the death penalty, her lawyers added.
Therefore, Youngblut’s defense team argues they will likely have only a few weeks to submit evidence to the committee, adding that the average time between indictment and such a meeting is around 15 months.
“The government’s schedule promises to turn Ms. Youngblut’s submission into a near-pointless formality,” Barth and Stelzig said.
The suspect’s attorneys also claim they have had limited time to prepare, citing Youngblut’s “learned counsel” — a lawyer with experience in capital cases — only joining the defense team on June 12, after her initial lawyer withdrew.
Youngblut’s legal team is now requesting that the court extend the deadline to January 30, 2026, at the very earliest, claiming prosecutors should not make a decision about the death penalty until after the mitigation evidence has been reviewed.
The federal affidavit claims Youngblut drew a .40-caliber Glock and fired, without warning, at Maland after he stopped her in Coventry, Vermont, on January 20, while she was driving with German national and fellow alleged Ziz member, Felix Bauckholt.
From there, a shootout transpired that left both the Border Patrol agent and the German national dead, the affidavit states.
Several days before the shooting, authorities had already been watching Youngblut and Bauckholt after a Vermont hotel employee reported seeing them carrying guns and wearing tactical gear, WCAX noted.
Youngblut and Bauckholt have allegedly been followers of Jack LaSota, a transgender individual also known as Ziz, who has gained popularity among young radicals through online rants about veganism, gender identity, and AI.
Ziz members have reportedly been tied to the 2022 death of one of their own, which occurred while they allegedly attacked California landlord Curtis Lind — who was later killed this year — as well as the deaths of a Pennsylvania couple, Rita and Richard Zajko, who were fatally shot in their Pennsylvania home on New Year’s Eve 2022.
Michelle Zajko, the daughter of the couple killed in Pennsylvania, was arrested in February in Maryland, where she was charged with providing weapons to Youngblut in Vermont.
LaSota was also arrested with Zajko and faces weapons and drug charges, as well as charges of being an armed fugitive.
Meanwhile, Maximilian Snyder, who is charged with killing Lind, had reportedly applied for a marriage license with Youngblut.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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