A pardon is not beyond possibility.

From the article:

J.C. Hortman, Mark Hortman's 86-year-old father ... .along with Mark's older brother Lee Hortman, criticized the U.S. Justice Department and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for accepting a plea deal in the case rather than go to trial.

A trial would have answered questions around why first responders weren't dispatched sooner to the Hortmans' home and why police who did arrive didn't immediately try to stop Boelter, he said, adding that he wanted a trial so that the death penalty would be pursued.

J.C. Hortman criticized Blanche's decision, suggesting that the Justice Department's work was influenced by the fact that Boelter "only killed Democrats, so Todd didn't care."

Blanche "took the easy way out. He's going to reward this piece of garbage," said Lee Hortman.