DETROIT LAKES, Minn. – A Becker County judge has granted a motion to delay Minnesota’s trial Senator charged with first-degree burglary.
According to court filings filed Friday, the trial of Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, will now take place within 60 days of May 19, 2025, the last day of the legislative session. She applied for a postponement last weekjust before the session started.
The trial was scheduled to begin Jan. 27, but Mitchell’s attorneys cited a law that states “no case or proceeding, civil or criminal…shall be tried or heard at any session of the Legislature” if the member legislature is prosecuted. a lawyer, party or witness.
Prosecutors demanded a speedy trial, but Judge Michael D. Fritz said in his order that the statute clearly indicates there is a “privilege for lawmakers” to continue the legal proceedings when the hearing ends.
“The State requests that this Court deny a continuance based on the level of the alleged crime. However, the law does not distinguish between types of violations. Its plain language makes the law applicable to any criminal prosecution,” Fritz wrote in the order. “The state questions the wisdom of this law and has made policy arguments against the statute. This Court must follow the law as it is written.”
Mitchell pleaded not guilty to first-degree burglary in August and has denied wrongdoing. According to the criminal complaint, Mitchell admitted to police that she broke into her stepmother’s home in Detroit Lakes last April to retrieve some of her late father’s personal items, including his ashes.
“I was just trying to get some of my dad’s stuff because you wouldn’t talk to me anymore,” Mitchell told her stepmother during her arrest, according to the complaint.
Her arrest last year spilled over into the state capital, where Mitchell was removed from its committees and caucus meetings after charges were filed against her, although she still participated in Senate votes. Some Democratic leaders, including DFL Chairman Ken Martin and Governor Tim Walz, called for her resignation.
Senate Republicans filed an ethics complaint against her and once also tried to expel her from the chamber.
In a statement, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mark Johnson indicated that Republicans could take similar actions now that her trial has been postponed.
“Senator Mitchell’s last-minute decision to request a trial delay this week is an abuse of her status as a senator. She also has the right to waive her deferral privilege to expeditiously resolve this entire matter,” Johnson, R.-East Grand Forks, said in a statement. “This is not a victimless crime; This delay has once again victimized those involved, and Senate Republicans will not stand idly by while Senator Mitchell abuses her position to deny justice.”
Note: The above video first aired on January 10, 2025.