Sen. Nicole Mitchell requests to have burglary trial postponed until after 2025 legislative session

State Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, is asking a judge to put her criminal trial on hold until after the legislative session.

Mitchell is charged with one count of first-degree burglary in connection with an alleged break-in at her stepmother’s Detroit Lakes home in April. Jury selection in that case is set to begin on Jan. 27, nearly two weeks into the 2025 legislative session, which kicks off on Tuesday.

In a motion filed on Friday in Becker County District Court, Mitchell’s defense attorney asked the judge presiding over the case to delay the trial until “the first available date after May 19, 2025,” the deadline for lawmakers to wrap up business at the Capitol.

The filing cited a 2007 appeals court decision ruling that state law “authorizes the postponement of a judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding in which a legislator is involved as a party, attorney, or witness while the legislature is in session.”

Mitchell also requested to attend a hearing scheduled for Tuesday remotely.

Republican Senate Leader Mark Johnson criticized Mitchell’s request to delay her trial, saying in a statement that the motion “delays justice for her victim and further delays an orderly Senate session as she continues to bring the reputation of the Senate into disrepute.”

Johnson also reiterated his call to strip Mitchell of her vote and expel her from the Senate.

In a statement, DFL Senate Leader Erin Murphy seemed to imply that Mitchell’s request to continue the case could prove unproductive.

“Senator Mitchell, by asking to continue her trial, is acting in her self interest as an individual and a legislator, and that is her right,” Murphy said. “However, we saw last session how the Republicans used her pending court case as a way to disrupt the work of the Senate. I have been looking forward to the resolution of her case. The Senate DFL Caucus is ready to get back to the work of the people of Minnesota.”