Police cruiser lights. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger A legal battle is brewing over cellphones and other devices used by law enforcement around the time of a shootout in which a federal agent was killed in northern Vermont. Teresa Youngblut, 22, of Seattle, faces several charges, inclu ding murder, in the death of Border Patrol Agent David Maland during a traffic stop in January 2025 that turned into gunfire on Interstate 91 in Coventry. With the trial still to be set, the prosecution this week pushed back against a defense motion seeking to preserve certain electronic devices and the information stored on them. Youngblut’s attorneys earlier this month requested a court order requiring the prosecution “to secure, extract, and preserve full forensic copies of all cell phones or other devices — work, personal, or otherwise — used by officers and agents involved in the surveillance, stop, arrest, and shooting and the leadup to and aftermath of those events.”  The order was needed, the filing argued, to prevent the devices or data from being destroyed or deleted. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Lasher wrote in a filing Wednesday that the defense request was “impractical, invasive, and unsupported by law and the circumstances of the case.” U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss this week set a hearing in September to air the dispute. Prosecutors have filed notice with the court that they will seek the death penalty for Youngblut, if convicted. Vermont does not have a death penalty under state law. However, the case was brought under federal law where the death penalty is permitted.  Youngblut was the driver pulled over in the January 2025 traffic stop, along with a passenger, whom authorities identified as Felix Bauckholt. Bauckholt also went by Ophelia Bauckholt.  Bauckholt, a German national, was killed in the shootout. Youngblut was also shot. After receiving treatment at a hospital, Youngblut was taken into custody a few days later on federal charges. Youngblut and Bauckholt had been linked by law enforcement to a group known as the Zizians whose members have been connected to six homicides across the country, including Maland’s death in Vermont. The group is a breakaway faction of the so-called Rationalist movement in the San Francisco Bay Area. Zizian members reportedly subscribe to beliefs focused on veganism, gender identity and preventing harmful effects from artificial intelligence. Lasher wrote in Wednesday’s filing that law enforcement agents who observed Youngblut before and during the vehicle stop used multiple electronic devices, including government-issued and personal cellphones. Lasher raised privacy concerns regardless of ownership. Agents’ own devices would contain personal information unrelated to the law enforcement case, Lasher wrote. Additionally, government-issued devices would include data unrelated to this investigation and case, he added. “Further,” the prosecutor wrote, “the number of devices included in the defendant’s request would be substantial and present issues with acquisition, storage, and review.” Lasher wrote that a “case-specific approach” would be more appropriate. He added that he planned to provide more detail about what the government has done to address the issue “at or prior” to the September hearing.  The prosecutor, in his four-page filing Wednesday, also briefly addressed an assertion in the defense motion that challenged the validity of the traffic stop. Law enforcement documents, according to the defense motion, had claimed the stop was due to immigration concerns. But the defense team contended in its filing that by the time of the traffic stop, authorities had already determined that Bauckholt was in the U.S. on a valid visa.  Lasher, in his filing, wrote that the government “does not concede” that the defense characterization is accurate.  “The source the defendant cited for that premise indicated only” that a visa had been issued, not that it was still valid at the time of the vehicle stop, Lasher wrote. Youngblut pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail awaiting trial. Steven Barth, an attorney for Youngblut, declined to comment Thursday on the prosecution filing. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Vermont also declined to comment Thursday. Read the story on VTDigger here: Dispute over evidence preservation heats up in border agent’s killing. ...read more read less