Judge grants Sen. Nicole Mitchell’s request to delay trial until after legislative session

Nicole Mitchell on the Minnesota Senate floor on April 29, 2024. (KSTP-TV)
State Sen. Nicole Mitchell’s bid to push her burglary trial until after the legislative session has been granted, according to an order filed on Friday.
The Woodbury Democrat — who is accused of breaking into her stepmother’s Detroit Lakes home last April — was originally scheduled to stand trial beginning on Jan. 27. Her trial will now commence “within 60 days of May 19, 2025,” the deadline for the Legislature to finish its business.
However, tight margins in the House and Senate and a mandate to pass a biennial budget this year could push the actual end of the session into June.
A memorandum attached to the order acknowledges that Minnesota law grants “substantive” privilege to members of the Legislature, particularly when it comes to any court proceeding that could interfere with the legislative session.
“The privilege ensures that legislators can fulfill their duties to the people of Minnesota and ensures that their constituents are represented during the session,” Becker County District Judge Michael Fritz wrote.
Becker County Attorney Brian W. McDonald had opposed the motion to continue the trial, saying in a court filing “there were zero instances” of state law being used to “delay a proceeding for the accused in a criminal proceeding.”
GOP Senate Leader Mark Johnson said Mitchell’s request to delay her trial “is an abuse of her status as a Senator.”
“She also has the right to waive her privilege to a delay to bring this entire matter to a swift conclusion,” Johnson said in a statement. “This is not a victimless crime; this delay revictimized those involved, and Senate Republicans will not stand idly by while Sen. Mitchell abuses her position to deny justice.”
5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has reached out to Senate Democrats for comment and is awaiting a response.