Current:Home > MyMinnesota state senator pleads not guilty to burglarizing stepmother’s home-InfoLens
Minnesota state senator pleads not guilty to burglarizing stepmother’s home
View Date:2025-01-11 01:01:53
DETROIT LAKES, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota state senator has pleaded not guilty to burglarizing the home of her estranged stepmother after her father’s death.
Sen. Nicole Mitchell, a Democrat from the St. Paul suburb of Woodbury, was charged in April. She told police at the time that she broke into the home in the northwestern Minnesota town of Detroit Lakes because her stepmother refused to give her items of sentimental value from her late father, including his ashes, according to the felony criminal complaint.
In a joint court filing Tuesday, defense and prosecution attorneys said Mitchell was pleading not guilty, and was asking the court to schedule both a settlement conference and jury trial.
The two sides also agreed that prosecutors won’t be able to argue that Mitchell stole a laptop computer that police seized when they arrested her. Ownership of the laptop had been in dispute. The agreement says that prosecutors can, however, use evidence from the laptop if the case goes to trial.
Mitchell’s arrest roiled the 2024 legislative session, which came to an acrimonious end, and ethics proceedings against her remain on hold pending developments in her criminal case. She denied stealing and rejected Republican calls for her resignation. Her status posed a dilemma for her fellow Democrats because they held only a one-seat majority in the Senate, so they needed her vote to pass anything that lacked bipartisan support. They excluded her from caucus meetings and took her off her committees but did not publicly ask her to step down.
Mitchell was dressed all in black and wearing a black hat when she was arrested, the complaint said, and it quoted her as saying, “I know I did something bad.”
Her attorney has said that her dispute with her stepmother arose out of a “fractured relationship” that was aggravated by age-related issues.
Mitchell’s father died in March 2023 at the age of 72, according to his obituary. He had been married to Mitchell’s stepmother for 40 years, it said.
veryGood! (981)
Related
- Sports are a must-have for many girls who grow up to be leaders
- Blue's Clues' Steve Burns Shares His Thoughts on Quiet on Set Docuseries
- Purdue's Zach Edey embraces 'Zachille O'Neal' nickname, shares 'invaluable' advice from Shaq
- How often total solar eclipses happen — and why today's event is so rare
- Candidates line up for special elections to replace Virginia senators recently elected to US House
- Cartels, mafias and gangs in Europe are using fruit companies, hotels and other legal businesses as fronts, Europol says
- Purdue's Matt Painter has been one of best coaches of his generation win or lose vs. UConn
- Air Force contractor who walked into moving propeller had 'inadequate training' when killed
- Roster limits in college small sports put athletes on chopping block while coaches look for answers
- Former gas station chain owner gets Trump endorsement in Wisconsin congressional race
Ranking
- Brian Austin Green’s Fiancée Sharna Burgess Celebrates Megan Fox’s Pregnancy News
- Little Big Town Reveals Taylor Swift’s Surprising Backstage Activity
- When was the last total solar eclipse in the U.S.? Revisiting 2017 in maps and photos
- Solar eclipse: NSYNC's Lance Bass explains how not to say 'bye bye bye to your vision'
- Amtrak service disrupted after fire near tracks in New York City
- Hall of Fame coach John Calipari makes stunning jump from Kentucky to Arkansas
- NYC will pay $17.5M to settle lawsuit alleging women were forced to remove hijabs in mugshots
- An AP photographer works quickly to land a shot from ringside in Las Vegas
Recommendation
-
NASCAR Championship race live updates, how to watch: Cup title on the line at Phoenix
-
Missouri to reduce risk of suffering if man requires surgical procedure at execution
-
Engine covering falls off Boeing plane, strikes wing flap during Southwest Airlines flight Denver takeoff
-
Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian city of Kharkiv leaves at least 6 dead
-
Francesca Farago Details Health Complications That Led to Emergency C-Section of Twins
-
South Carolina joins elite company. These teams went undefeated, won national title
-
UFL Week 2 winners, losers: Michigan Panthers' Jake Bates wows again with long field goal
-
Two years after its historic win, a divided Amazon Labor Union lurches toward a leadership election