Minnesota state Sen. Nicole Mitchell found guilty on both charges in burglary trial
Jurors have found Democratic Minnesota state Sen. Nicole Mitchell guilty on both charges in her burglary trial.
The jury needed three hours of deliberation to reach the verdict following the fourth day of testimony. Nicole Mitchell was convicted of felony first-degree burglary and possession of burglary or theft tools for breaking into her stepmother's Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, home on April 22, 2024.
Becker County Attorney Brian McDonald said he is "pleased for Carol Mitchell, for some justice." Defense attorney Dane DeKrey said his team said there are "arguments for mercy" in Nicole Mitchell's sentencing.
The judge overseeing the trial said Mitchell could remain free pending sentencing. A date has not yet been set.
She faces a mandatory minimum of 180 days in jail.
Following the verdict, Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, a Democrat, said Nicole Mitchell "has told colleagues that she intended to resign if found guilty of this crime, and I expect her to follow through on that pledge."
The governor's office and Minnesota DFL Party Chair Richard Carlbom said they also expect her to resign.
Legislators are not automatically expelled if convicted of a felony, though they can vote to remove Mitchell. State Democrats currently hold a one-seat majority in the Senate.
Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson said the verdict confirms Nicole Mitchell's actions "failed to meet the level of ethical behavior we expect from elected officials, and her continued participation in the Minnesota Senate leaves the body with a stain on its record for every time her vote was the deciding vote in passing legislation."
"I don't think she's fit to be representing Woodbury," Jason Torkelson, who voted for Mitchell, said on Friday following the verdict.
Torkelson says his respect and trust for her are gone.
"She's got to be held at the same standards as we do," he said. "You can't go around breaking laws while you're making laws."
In his closing argument, McDonald asked the jury to trust what they heard from Nicole Mitchell in body camera footage.
"What the defendant said in those tense moments after being detained by the police is the truth, period," McDonald said. "She said she was there to take items, and that readily proves her intent to commit a theft."
In the defense's closing, Ringstrom reiterated Nicole Mitchell's assertion she broke into her stepmother's home for a welfare check, which could be called "poor judgment" but is not tantamount to burglary.
"The state needs you to believe that Nicole Mitchell would … throw away her career, that she would throw away her family and she would throw away her ability to be a foster parent for a shirt she knew that she was going to get," Ringstrom said.
Nicole Mitchell pleaded not guilty, and during the trial, her defense contended she was at the home to check on her stepmother, Carol Mitchell, who lives with Alzheimer's.
The embattled senator spent more than five hours on the witness stand during the trial, testifying about her relationship with her stepmother, the alleged rift that occurred over her father's death and lack of will and Carol Mitchell's Alzheimer's diagnosis.
"I always remember Carol being in my life, and as a mother figure," Nicole Mitchell said.
Carol Mitchell also took the stand, telling jurors she and her stepdaughter were not particularly close and saying she felt "extremely violated" after finding Nicole Mitchell in her home.
Jurors also saw body camera footage of the police response to Carol Mitchell's 911 call about the burglary, during which Nicole Mitchell told one officer, "I know I did something bad."
Nicole Mitchell has survived multiple expulsion attempts by her Republican Senate colleagues, but the body's DFL Caucus did remove her from committee assignments and caucus meetings days after her arrest.
