Minnesota Senator Nicole Mitchell has pleaded not guilty to burglary charges. During her trial, her defense team argued that she entered her stepmother‘s home to check on her, as her stepmother, Carol Mitchell, suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.
Senator Mitchell testified for over five hours, detailing her relationship with her stepmother, a reported disagreement following her father’s death and the absence of a will, and Carol Mitchell’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. “I always remember Carol being in my life, and as a mother figure,” Nicole Mitchell stated.
carol Mitchell also took the stand, telling the jury that she and her stepdaughter were not close and that she felt “extremely violated” upon discovering Nicole Mitchell in her home. body camera footage presented during the trial showed Nicole Mitchell telling an officer during the police response to Carol Mitchell’s 911 call, “I know I did something bad.”
Despite facing multiple attempts by her Republican Senate colleagues to expel her, the DFL Caucus removed Senator Mitchell from committee assignments and caucus meetings shortly after her arrest. These events follow previous expulsion attempts by her Republican Senate colleagues, though the body’s DFL Caucus did remove her from committee assignments and caucus meetings days after her arrest.
