Update by Austin Erickson (5:15 PM)
State Senator Nicole Mitchell talked about why she drove around four hours from Woodbury, Minnesota to her stepmother’s Detroit Lakes home in day three of her burglary trial.
She said she left at 1:00 AM.
“If she felt kind of threatened in any way, it was becoming a bit more… I hate to say verbally abusive,” Mitchell said.
Her stepmother, Carol, has Alzheimer’s and Mitchell says she worried she would be agitated.
In his opening statement, Becker County Attorney Brian McDonald quoted Mitchell from an officer’s bodycam video saying “I know I did something bad.”
Mitchell admitted on the stand to lying to police when she was confronted during the alleged break-in. She was seen on police bodycam video saying “I’m just here to get some of my dad’s things” four times.
“The only person I have to blame for this is myself and I’m not saying this for sympathy. I was very stressed out and then at a certain point I didn’t know what Carol had said to the police, I didn’t have the context they had, and I thought we were going to calm everything down and it went in a different direction,” Mitchell explained.
Saying she was concerned about her stepmother’s Alzheimer’s, Mitchell claims she arrived in the middle of the night to avoid a confrontation.
Mitchell also described why was seen on bodycam video asking a police officer if her stepmother could drop the charges. The politician says she was trying to keep her stepmother’s emotions in check by not telling her she went to the home overnight to check on her last year.
The state senator admitted to breaking a window to get inside.
“I don’t know that I was thinking completely rationally after everything that had happened that morning, so maybe it wasn’t the most rational thought, but that is what I fixated on in my head,” Mitchell said.
In cross-examination, Becker County Attorney Brian McDonald asked Mitchell why she didn’t mention worrying about her stepmother’s condition in the nearly 40 minutes she was put in handcuffs and put in a cell at the jail.
“I would disagree,” Mitchell said.
“It’s a yes or know question,” McDonald replied.
“No,” Mitchell said.
“You don’t agree with that?” McDonald asked.
“I do not,” Mitchell replied.
“Zero times did you mention anything about medical information? Finding medical information,” McDonald asked.
“I would agree with that,” Mitchell responded.
The trial has ended for the day and is set to pick up again on Friday.
Update by Austin Erickson (12:40 PM)
Nicole Mitchell is testifying in her burglary trial in Detroit Lakes.
She’s accused of breaking into her stepmother’s home last year.
The State Senator discussed the difficulties of seeing what she calls Carol Mitchell’s decline because of Alzheimer’s. Nicole talked about speaking with a friend going through something similar with his adult daughter’s cystic fibrosis.
“We had a lot of conversations about what is that line? How do you respect them and not let them hurt themselves? How do you navigate all of that?” Mitchell asked.
Mitchell also described what she calls Carol’s confusion and anger partially from her stepmother’s Alzheimer’s.
“There had been so much stuff over the past year. I didn’t want to upset her because she would get agitated and I felt like I was just shutting down my emotions,” Mitchell explained.
The jury saw texts showing Carol saying she wanted Nicole’s father’s ashes interred on a date that only worked for a funeral home.
Nicole said she and her children couldn’t be there. Mitchell then wrote she called the business who said Carol picked that date. The messages were sent one month before Nicole is accused of breaking into Carol’s home.
Nicole’s attorney asked the state senator why she didn’t call Becker County for help with caring for her stepmother.
“I don’t usually do that for stuff for myself. I feel weird about using my position for personal things. Even when I’m doing it for constituents, the last time I called my county, I was bounced around for over an hour,” Mitchell explained.
The prosecution has yet to ask Mitchell questions.
Detroit Lakes, Minn. – Minnesota State Senator Nicole Mitchell is taking the witness stand at her burglary trial in Becker County.
The DFL member is accused of breaking in to her stepmother’s home last year in Detroit Lakes.
The state rested their case on Wednesday, and the defense has been calling witnesses to the stand, including relatives.
Yesterday, Mitchell’s aunt testified that the lawmaker is a “caretaker at heart” who loves her stepmother.
Prosecutors argue Mitchell was in the home with the intent to steal, while Mitchell claims she was only there to retrieve items that belonged to her late father.
Watch Mitchell’s testimony here care of our news partners at Valley News Live.
