DFL Sen. Nicole Mitchell faces second felony charge

Prosecutors on Monday added a second felony charge against Sen. Nicole Mitchell, the Woodbury Democrat already charged with breaking into a Detroit Lakes home.

Becker County prosecutors charged Mitchell with possession of burglary or theft tools, a charge that carries a possible sentence of up to three years in prison, a $5,000 fine or both.

According to the charge filed in Becker County District Court, the tool was a blue crowbar that Mitchell allegedly used to enter the home.

Mitchell was arrested in April at the Detroit Lakes home her late father shared with her stepmother. A first-term senator, Mitchell pleaded not guilty to a first-degree burglary charge.

Officers responding to the burglary call about 4:45 a.m. April 22 found Mitchell in the basement of the home “dressed in all black clothing and a black hat,” according to the complaint. As she was being detained, she told her stepmother, “I was just trying to get a couple of my dad’s things because you wouldn’t talk to me anymore,” the complaint said. Her father died last year.

The charge filed Monday involves a blue crowbar that was allegedly discovered in an egress window which was Mitchell’s ”most probably point of entry,” the complaint states. Police said they noted “faint pry marks” on the window and traces of loose dirt near it and on a desk just inside of the window.

Mitchell’s Moorhead-based attorney, Bruce Ringstrom Jr., said Monday the second charge was likely filed in response to an order issued last month by Becker County District Judge Michael Fritz. The order, he said, put prosecutors on notice that they need to prove Mitchell’s intention for entering the home.

Mitchell’s trial was postponed last month to June 16, after the legislative session ends on May 19. Ringstrom said the new charge could further delay the trail.

Mitchell did not respond to a phone call Monday seeking comment.

She has survived two expulsion votes in the Senate, the most recent of which was lodged by Republicans in January.