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Crime, Law and Justice
Dan Gunderson and Brian Bakst

Sen. Nicole Mitchell enters not guilty plea to burglary charge

Three people sit at a table while press lines up behind them
Sen. Nicole Mitchell listens as her attorney Bruce Ringstrom Jr. delivers a statement on her behalf during a Subcommittee on Ethical Conduct hearing in St. Paul on May 7.
Ben Hovland | MPR News

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Minnesota state Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, has entered a not guilty plea in a felony burglary case in Becker County, and a hearing in the case scheduled for Friday has been cancelled.

Mitchell was charged with illegally entering a residence in Detroit Lakes — where her stepmother lives — and taking items belonging to her deceased father.

A stipulation filed Tuesday says the state cannot argue that Mitchell stole a laptop.

“The state may not argue that the defendant stole the laptop from the residence in question as part of any theory of burglary,” reads the filing in Becker County District Court.

The filing said the laptop was “forensically examined,” but does not offer more details.

The defense withdrew a motion to dismiss the case for lack of probable cause, and asked that the case be scheduled for a settlement conference and jury trial.

A trial date has not been set.

Republicans have been calling on Mitchell to resign her state Senate seat ever since her arrest. Democrats held a one-seat majority in the state Senate last session.

Since then, state Sen. Kelly Morrison, DFL-Deephaven, resigned her seat to run for the U.S. House seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips. As a result, each party holds 33 seats in the Minnesota Senate.