State senator found guilty in cat burglary case after shocking footage showed her robbing stepmother
Democratic lawmaker Nicole Mitchell, 51, was found guilty of first-degree burglary and possession of burglary tools in court on Friday.
Mitchell was caught in the act while dressed in all black while at her stepmother's home in the northwestern Minnesota city of Detroit Lakes in April of last year.
She told police that she went there to search for her father's ashes and other mementos, but tried to back away from that story on the witness stand.
Footage of her arrest, shown earlier this week, showed her telling police, 'Clearly, I'm not good at this,' and 'I know I did something bad.'
The former broadcast meteorologist and now-retired Air National Guard officer was convicted of one count of first-degree burglary of an occupied dwelling, a felony that carries a mandatory minimum of six months in jail if there's an intent to steal.
Mitchell's father Roderick died in 2023 at the age of 72. He had been married to Mitchell's stepmother, Carol Mitchell, for nearly 40 years.
She testified on Thursday that, despite what she told the cops, she didn't intend to take anything.
She testified her stepmother was afraid of being put in a nursing home. Mitchell said she thought her stepmom would be less upset to hear she wanted some of her father's items than to have her competency questioned.
Mitchell said she had become increasingly concerned about her stepmother's worsening memory problems and paranoia, and wanted to check on her well-being.
She was also convicted on a count of possessing burglary tools, a lesser felony without a mandatory minimum.
The prosecution, led by Becker County Attorney Brian McDonald urged jurors Friday to focus on 'the many lies of Nicole Mitchell'.
He told the jury to evaluate her testimony with reason and common sense. And he urged them to review the video showing what she told police after her arrest.
He said: 'I submit to you she was telling the truth on April 22nd, 2024. And if you believe that she was telling the truth to the officers, then you know she had the intent to steal. She told you. She told the officers.'
Defense attorney Bruce Ringstrom Jr. told the jury that Mitchell did not steal anything and did not intend to.
He conceded that she used poor judgment. He said everybody has told 'white lies,' and that Mitchell's goal was to avoid aggravating her stepmother´s distrust even further.
'We all know the difference between a white lie and a meaningful, damaging one,' Ringstrom said.
'The problem is that this happened in the context of something that was a terrible mess, a mess that Nicole made. But it was a mess.'
Police entered the home of her stepmother after she made a 911 call reporting, 'Somebody's broken into my house.'
Upon arrival at the house, a seemingly terrified Carol directed them to the location of the intruder in the basement – where her stepdaughter was then discovered and handcuffed.
Following Mitchell's arrest upon discovery, the senator called out to her stepmom, 'It's Nicole. I was just trying to get some of my dad's things because you wouldn't talk to me anymore.'
When the police officer asked Carol how she knew the intruder, she replied, 'She's my stepdaughter. She's also a Minnesota senator.'
Officers reportedly found a crowbar and a backpack containing two laptops on the scene.
Mitchell's father died without a will and a probate court awarded Carol 100 percent of his estate.
This decision led to a familial dispute over the finances, with Carol accusing Mitchell of 'trying to get money.'
In her testimony, Carol said she felt 'extremely violated' when her home was broken into. 'It was frightening,' she said. 'I didn't dare to stay there. I moved out.'
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy was quick to issue a statement saying that Mitchell has told colleagues that she planned to resign if convicted.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson reiterated the GOP's long-standing demand for immediate resignation or face expulsion.
Gov. Tim Walz's office said he expects her to resign. But one of Mitchell's attorneys, Dane DeKrey, said in text messages to the Associated Press that he didn't know if she would heed the calls. He said they're exploring their options for an appeal.
If she resigns, the governor would schedule a special election. His office said it would provide more information soon.
Mitchell's district mostly votes Democratic. The Harris-Walz ticket carried it with 61% of the vote last year.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
16 minutes ago
- The Independent
The two faces of JD: Once a Jeffrey Epstein truther, Veep Vance becomes Trump and Bondi's latest spin doctor
Vice President J.D. Vance hit the campaign trail in Ohio on Monday, as he sought to help his boss and the GOP that is lined up behind him sell the 'big, beautiful' budget reconciliation package to midterm voters. Instead, the president's Twitter-happy running mate found himself answering questions about Jeffrey Epstein — and in a generally unfamiliar role: battling speculation on the right instead of fueling it. The vice president, who less than three weeks before the 2024 election declared that 'we' should release the 'Epstein list,' has a new message, as his colleagues now insist that the list isn't real: 'Donald J. Trump, I'm telling you, he's got nothing to hide.' Vance was in a Democratic-held district in Canton, Ohio — about three hours north of his hometown of Middletown — on Monday as the president and his party try and turn their focus towards next year's midterms. But they're the only ones whose attention has shifted — DC's focus remains firmly on Jeffrey Epstein and the growing uproar around the White House's handling of the so-called 'client list' or 'Epstein files.' And if Monday's road trip is any indicator, so has much of America's. After he concluded his remarks, the vice president hosted a press conference in front of his supporters, who watched up close as Vance evolved from conspiracy theorist to spin doctor in real time. 'The president has directed the attorney general to release all credible information and, frankly, to go and find additional credible information related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. He's been incredibly transparent about that stuff, but some of that stuff takes time,' said Vance, who went on to accuse the media of being uninterested in the story during the Biden administration. There are a few problems here. For one, that it isn't true. Vance's reference to Trump directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to 'release all credible information' is just a flat-out falsehood. The Justice Department stated explicitly — and continues to state — that it won't release further documents from its own trove at all. The FBI and DOJ's joint memo was pretty clear: 'we found no basis to revisit the disclosure of those materials'. What Bondi did authorize was a motion in court seeking for a judge to allow the release of grand jury transcripts to the public. Her agency made no attempts to justify the motion beyond satisfying public speculation, and it was denied — a foregone conclusion for a strategy that DOJ attorneys acknowledged in their own filings was a long shot. Republican leadership, meanwhile, is talking out of both sides of its mouth. Speaker Mike Johnson, remarking Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, positioned himself as pro-transparency while simultaneously coming out against a bipartisan resolution to force the Justice Department to release the files, with redactions for victim information and examples of pornography. It's also unclear what Vance meant when he said that the administration's efforts to make this story go away would 'take time.' Bondi's motion is already denied; she's made no indication that her efforts to see grand jury transcripts released will continue. Those transcripts likely also hardly scratch the surface of 'all credible information' the government has on the subject of Epstein. The Justice Department explained in July that further files from the investigation would not be released. The agency also declared that a list of the convicted pedophile's alleged co-conspirators did not exist, and that investigators "did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties." So what is the administration actually still doing? Unclear. Vance wouldn't say. But he was clear on one thing: they're doing it! 'Donald J. Trump is asking his Department of Justice to show full transparency, and somehow that's a criticism of Donald J. Trump and not Barack Obama and George W. Bush,' Vance griped on Monday. Having now passed the mammoth reconciliation package, the Republican Party is mindful of one political reality: that even with Trump's success in bullying backbenchers into line, the GOP has used up the bulk of its political capital. The chances of passing another piece of legislation through the Senate are slim, given the number of Democrats the party would need on their side to break a filibuster. Even a second reconciliation package seems off the table given the level of deficit spending Republicans budget hawks just had to swallow the first time around. But the vice president and the rest of his party are in a tough spot. Aside from an extension of existing tax cuts, the main provision of the 'big, beautiful bill' was a massive surge in funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement — a tricky sell for the Republican Party given that polling on the issue of immigration is quickly turning against the president thanks to highly public raids on farms and other businesses. Funding that provision and the extension of the tax cuts is the largest cut to Medicaid spending in history, driven by new work requirements expected to lead many to lose their coverage. Those Medicaid cuts are Democrats' favorite topic when discussing the second-term Trump agenda. Vance, as a result, is stuck arguing the nuts and bolts, pushing the GOP line that Democrats opposed extending tax cuts during an affordability crisis. Attacking Rep. Emilia Sykes, whose district he visited, Vance said on Monday: 'You know why she's not here today? Because she's not celebrating no taxes on tips. She's not celebrating no taxes on overtime…she fought us every step of the way.' As he spoke, however, 'Epstein Island' was the No. 1 trending term on Twitter/X, thanks to Trump's awkward quip Monday morning that he never 'had the privilege' of visiting the island where many of Epstein's crimes involving underaged girls were alleged to have taken place. It's hard to say yet how much the Epstein issue will affect the midterms — if at all. But with Donald Trump personally making the situation worse by throwing things against the wall to see what sticks, it will likely be up to Vance and the president's other allies to help dig him out of this hole.
The Guardian
17 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Two children at Miami sailing camp killed after barge collides with their boat
Two kids were killed and two more are in critical condition after a barge appears to have struck their boat and sent them overboard during a sailing camp in Miami on Monday, authorities said. All six people on the sailing boat were pulled from the water by responders, and four kids were rushed to a nearby hospital where two were pronounced dead upon arrival, said petty officer 3rd Class Nicholas Strasburg, a spokesperson for the US Coast Guard. The six – one adult and five kids – were in their last week of the sailing camp for kids from seven to 15 years old, according to the Miami Yacht Club. 'The entire MYC family is devastated by this terrible tragedy,' said Emily Copeland, the commodore of the yacht club, in a statement. Two of the six who were rescued were in 'good condition', Strasburg said. Last year, there were more than 550 deaths in recreational boating, of which 43 were caused by vessels crashing into each other, according to Coast Guard statistics. The boats collided near Star Island, which runs between Miami Beach and Miami in Biscayne Bay, said Arielle Callender, a regional spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, in a statement. Local television stations showed first responders, some in scuba diving gear, in boats around what appears to be a barge. The Coast Guard is investigating the crash.
Reuters
17 minutes ago
- Reuters
US appeals court extends suspension of 98-year-old judge in fitness probe
WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said on Monday that it would extend its suspension of 98-year-old judge Pauline Newman for another year after determining that she had not complied with an internal investigation into her fitness to serve on the Washington, D.C.-based court. A committee of the court's active judges determined, opens new tab that reports from doctors chosen by Newman did not eliminate the need for her to undertake "a full neuropsychological battery of tests" to ascertain whether she was capable of continuing to serve. Newman's attorney Greg Dolin said on Monday that the committee did not take sufficient time to consider their arguments, noting that the court published its 90-page opinion just days after a July 24 hearing on the suspension. "The idea that they took anything we said seriously" was "just laughable," he told Reuters. Dolin argued during the hearing that the court had enough information from several medical experts to resolve the investigation and end Newman's suspension, according to a transcript. A spokesperson for the Federal Circuit declined to comment on the ruling. Newman is the oldest federal judge not to have taken a form of semi-retirement known as senior status. Appointed to the Federal Circuit by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1984, Newman is a respected patent jurist and a prominent dissenter at the Washington, D.C.-based court, which frequently rules on high-stakes intellectual property cases involving major companies. The Federal Circuit's chief judge, Kimberly Moore, said in orders made public in 2023 that Newman had shown signs of serious cognitive and physical impairment. The court suspended Newman later that year after finding that she had refused to cooperate with an investigation into her fitness. Newman has maintained that she is fit to serve and sued the council over her suspension. A judge dismissed her case last year, and a separate federal appeals court in Washington is currently considering whether to revive it. Newman has submitted reports from neurologists vouching for her mental fitness. The court on Monday expressed concerns about the reports' credibility, finding that they contained misstatements about her health and that her medical records contained concerns about fainting episodes and impaired memory. "The expanded record leaves no doubt that the neuropsychological testing ordered by the committee from the outset is necessary," the court said.
