BURLINGTON — A former Stowe, Vt., man has denied upgraded federal charges in the 2023 fatal shootings of two Massachusetts men in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. The charges carry the possibility of the death penalty, if convicted.
Theodore Bland, 30, pleaded not guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Burlington to capital crime charges brought against him in a new indictment returned by a grand jury last month, accusing him of firing the shots that killed the two men.
Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle ordered Bland remain held without bail while the case against him is pending. Bland has been in custody since his arrest on lesser charges in 2023.
The next hearing in the case is set for Feb. 23.
Bland, wearing a green prison uniform, shook hands with his three attorneys as he entered the courtroom for Thursday’s brief proceeding.
In response to questions from Doyle, Bland said he understood the new charges against him and entered the not guilty pleas.
Bland’s arraignment comes more than two years after police found the bodies of Jahim Solomon and Eric White in the woods of Eden, Vt., on Oct 25, 2023. Both men had been shot in the head. According to charging documents, Bland shot the two men about 10 days earlier in a dispute over illegal drugs.
Solomon, 21, of Pittsfield, Mass., and White, 21, of Chicopee, Mass., had been reported missing by their families days before authorities discovered their bodies.
Vermont abolished its death penalty statute in the 1970s, however, the case against Bland was brought under federal law, which permits capital punishment for certain crimes. The last execution in Vermont took place in 1954.
Bland had earlier been charged with federal drug and firearms offenses related to the deaths of Solomon and White.
U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi, following action by President Donald Trump to lift a moratorium on the federal death penalty shortly after taking office in January, approved the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont pursuing the death penalty in Bland’s case.
Soon after, federal prosecutors in Vermont obtained the new grand jury indictment against Bland that formally notified him they would be seeking his execution, if he were convicted of the new capital offenses. Bland also faces other drug and firearms counts.
Bland is the second person to be arraigned this year in federal court in Burlington on federal charges that carry the possibility of the death penalty.
Federal prosecutors earlier this year brought death penalty charges against 21-year-old Teresa Youngblut, formerly of Washington state. Youngblut has been charged in the fatal shooting of a border patrol agent in northern Vermont in January.
This story was republished with permission from VtDigger, which offers its reporting at no cost to local news organizations through its Community News Sharing Project. To learn more, visit vtdigger.org/community-news-sharing-project.