A Minnesota state senator and former TV meteorologist announced she will be resigning after a jury convicted her of breaking into her stepmother’s home, a felony burglary.
The jury took only three hours Friday to find Nicole Mitchell, 51, guilty, while also finding her guilty of a second felony, the possession of burglary tools.
The senator represents the suburbs east of Saint Paul and is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), which is affiliated with the national Democratic Party.
Mitchell’s professional background prior to her 2022 election seems entirely at odds with being a convicted felon.
According to her extensive Wikipedia page, she served in the Air Force reserve as a lieutenant Colonel and in the Air National Guard, commanding a weather flight. She later worked as a news media meteorologist for several outlets, eventually landing in 2017 at KSTP in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul media market.
In 2010 Mitchell also earned a law degree, was admitted to the bar, and has volunteered to provide free legal services to first responders, according to her Wikipedia bio.
Responding to a pre-dawn burglary call, police arrested Mitchell on April 22, 2024, when she claimed she had entered her stepmother Carol Mitchell’s Detroit Lakes home ”to retrieve her late father’s ashes and other belongings, which she said her stepmother would not hand over,” Fox News reported.
The couple had been married 40 years.
“Clearly, I’m not good at this,” she reportedly said during her arrest.
However, the lawmaker’s story appeared to change when she was on the stand during the trial. She testified she did not intend to take anything and wanted to check on the health and safety of her stepmother, who has Alzheimer’s disease.
That contradicted police body cam footage that showed her in the back of the police car, telling an officer she was “just trying to get some of my dad’s things,” Fox reported.
According to a statement by her attorney, the lawmaker needs two weeks to wrap up her legislative duties and secure health insurance before her August 4 resignation.
Senate Republican Leader Mark Johnson called for the senator to resign immediately, according to NBC News.
“Senator Mitchell was convicted of two felonies;,” he said. “She doesn’t get to give the Senate two weeks’ notice.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more
