What might Sen. Mitchell’s looming burglary trial mean for the budget debate?
On June 16, just two weeks from now, Sen. Nicole Mitchell (DFL) is due to stand trial for burglary.
As I noted in the Summer 2024 issue of our magazine Thinking Minnesota:
Around one o’clock in the morning of Monday, April 22 [2024], Democratic state Sen. Nicole Mitchell set off on the 200-mile drive from her home in Woodbury to her stepmother’s home in Detroit Lakes. On arrival, dressed all in black and carrying a flashlight covered with a black sock to reduce emitting light, the senator entered the house through a basement window and went to her stepmother’s bedroom. At some point, Sen. Mitchell’s stepmother was awakened and the senator “ran down into the basement.” Mitchell’s stepmother called the police at 4:45 a.m. When officers arrived, they arrested her and, searching her black backpack, found two laptops, a cellphone, and miscellaneous Tupperware. “I know I did something bad,” the senator told the officers. When Sen. Mitchell was given one of the laptops found in her backpack to open, which she claimed was hers, her stepmother’s name appeared on the screen. The senator said the laptop had been given to her “way back when”; her stepmother denies giving the laptop to Sen. Mitchell.
As I noted in January:
At that time, the DFL held a one-vote majority in the state Senate — 34 to 33 — and, whatever Mitchell may or may not be guilty of, her vote was needed to ram legislation through. As soon as the session was over, however, and her vote was no longer needed, prominent DFLers like Ken Martin and Gov. Tim Walz called on her to resign.
She did not. She insisted on her day in court. But, when her day in court drew close — Mitchell’s trial was due to start on January 27 — she requested that it be delayed until after the legislative session concluded. Incredibly, last week District Court Judge Michael D. Fritz ruled in her favor, and the trial will not now be held until sometime after May 19, the end of the legislative session. Mitchell’s status as a Minnesota state Senator is protecting her from trial.
On May 22, the trial date was set for June 16.
But this legislative session has been something of a shambles. It ended without a budget being passed and, as things stand, we are looking at a special session or a possible partial government shutdown.
This situation might not be resolved by June 16, when Sen. Mitchell is due to be up before a judge on felony charges. If that is the case, one of three things must happen:
- Sen. Mitchell gets yet another delay of her trial and the alleged victim, her elderly stepmother — who, Sen. Mitchell contends, is cognitively impaired — will have to wait even longer for her day in court. Mitchell’s status as a state Senator will benefit her once again.
- Sen. Mitchell participates in the session, even, perhaps, voting, remotely from court in Becker County. Is that even possible?
- Sen. Mitchell absents herself from the session after June 16, in which case the Senate is tied at 33-33.
None of these outcomes is anything less than rotten for the DFL, but it is hard to feel too sorry for them. They — and we — would not be in this situation if they had acted with the same swiftness and resolve as their Republican Senate colleagues, who moved to boot the session’s other accused felon — Justin Eichorn — as soon as he was arrested (which even the pro-DFL Minnesota Reformer applauded). The DFL could have expelled Sen. Mitchell when she was arrested and charged in April 2024. They did not. They could have expelled her when Gov. Walz and Ken Martin begged them to in May 2024. They did not. They could have expelled her when Republicans moved a motion in January. They did not. At each turn, her vote has been too important to risk.
And that is just in the Senate. Let us also remember that the reason we are blowing through deadlines is, in large part, because the DFL cheated in a House race in November, got caught, and then went on a three-week taxpayer-funded vacation at the start of the session.
This season of Minnesota State Legislature has made House of Cards look like Almanac. It looks sure to have a few twists in store yet.