Ex-Sen. Nicole Mitchell gets jail time for nighttime burglary at stepmother’s home

DETROIT LAKES, MINN. - Former Democratic state Sen. Nicole Mitchell was sentenced to six months in jail Tuesday for breaking into her stepmother’s home in the middle of the night last year, closing a case that amplified partisan divisions in Minnesota’s Capitol.

Mitchell’s attorneys argued for probation and to reduce her felony burglary convictions to misdemeanors. But Judge Michael Fritz wasn’t persuaded to order a sentence below Minnesota’s mandatory minimum for first-degree burglary, the charge for which a jury convicted her in July.

“Everyone deserves to feel safe and secure in their home,” Fritz said.

The judge, however, allowed Mitchell to serve her sentence in Ramsey County to participate in work release, as requested by her attorneys, to be close to her sons and maintain her new job at a fast-food restaurant — the only place that would hire her with the felony conviction, they said.

Mitchell, 50, must report to jail Oct. 1. Minnesota law requires defendants to serve two-thirds of their sentence, so she will be incarcerated for four months, followed by five years’ probation. If she violates probation, Fritz will order her to serve a stayed sentence of 21 months.

She was not taken into custody after sentencing and instead left court with her attorneys. She remained expressionless during the proceedings and did not make any comments afterward, but her stepmother, Carol Mitchell, briefly addressed the media.

“I don’t think six months is very much time for what she put me through,” she said. “But at least I know it’s going to hurt her ... losing her children and losing her job ... I guess there’s definitely repercussions for what she did.”

The complicated, sometimes ugly dynamics between Nicole and Carol Mitchell were on full display during her five-day trial. Their relationship hit a breaking point with the unexpected death of Roderick Mitchell, Nicole’s father. Carol buried his ashes when Nicole, Rod’s only child, was too busy in a legislative session to attend the service.

Nicole Mitchell told police upon her arrest that she was trying to retrieve some of her late father’s things. She later changed her story on the witness stand, testifying that she was making a welfare check on Carol Mitchell, 75, who had been recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

It took a Becker County jury just three hours to find her guilty of using burglary tools to invade the home last April. Carol Mitchell woke up about 4 a.m. to an intruder dressed in all black, unaware at first that it was her stepdaughter, and called 911 in a panic.

“Fear has moved in with me to stay. How could I ever trust Nicole again?” said Becker County Attorney Brian McDonald as he read Carol Mitchell’s victim impact statement in court.

McDonald blasted the ex-senator for a lack of accountability and remorse. Nicole Mitchell apologized publicly for the first time Tuesday.

“I tell my kids that by the time you have to say you’re sorry it’s kind of already too late ... because sometimes there are things that are so big you can’t take them back,” she said. “And this is one of those situations.”

However, she said, if her stepmother ever wants a relationship again, “that door is open.”

Dane DeKrey, one of her defense attorneys, said the enormous mistake was out of character and Mitchell is paying an enormous price. Her political career is over. The felonies will prevent her from caring for foster children, volunteering at her son’s school and serving as an election judge, he said.

“She found a job [after] being one of the most famous felons of the last couple months in Minnesota,” DeKrey said in court. “That was no easy task.”

He argued that his client never stole anything. A hallmark of this case is the “almost comical nature” of her black clothes, stocking cap and covered flashlight, DeKrey said in his 31-page sentencing memo.

McDonald countered that she never stole anything only because she was caught. “The fact that she didn’t get away with anything means nothing,” he said.

The county attorney said the defense claimed Mitchell is “too important to face the consequences” and alleged that she asserted “legislative privilege” by continuing to vote, craft laws and collect a paycheck from taxpayers while her case was pending.

McDonald said Mitchell “brazenly testified under oath” that she lied to police and said her story was “wholly unbelievable and completely rejected by the jury.” Further, he said for Mitchell to focus on her stepmother’s Alzheimer’s at trial was a “desperate attempt to somehow justify [her] actions and shift blame to the victim for the defendant breaking into victim’s home.”

Relatives said in victim impact statements to Fritz that the break-in has only worsened Carol Mitchell’s Alzheimer’s.

Pam Muxfeldt, of Fergus Falls, said when she got the text from her aunt that morning about what happened, she thought her aunt was describing a dream or a nightmare.

“Nicole, the decision you made will forever be a reminder of how people with power think they are above the law,” she said.

A special election will take place Nov. 4 to fill Mitchell’s seat.