Prosecution rests its case in Nicole Mitchell burglary trial

Prosecutors in Sen. Nicole Mitchell’s burglary trial rested their case Wednesday afternoon and the defense began calling witnesses.

When asked by the Minnesota Star Tribune whether they plan to call Nicole Mitchell to the stand, defense attorney Dane DeKrey said, “We don’t know yet,” adding that they’ll determine that toward the end of presenting their case and after calling other witnesses. DeKrey said it is ultimately Nicole Mitchell’s decision whether she wants to testify, but she has said she wants to do so and made that clear early in the case.

Carol Mitchell, 75, who has Alzheimer’s, took the witness stand Tuesday. She couldn’t remember basic details, dates and names, but said the break-in at her Detroit Lakes home on April 22, 2024, was frightening and forced her to temporarily move out of her home.

Nicole Mitchell, a first-term DFL state senator from Woodbury, has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of attempted burglary and possession of burglary tools. If convicted of a felony, it could tip the balance of power in the state Senate, where her party controls the chamber by a single vote.

Doug Vickmark, a Detroit Lakes police investigator, took the witness stand Wednesday and said that Carol Mitchell came into the police station still shook up, paranoid and afraid days after the break-in.

“She was very concerned Nicole’s purpose wasn’t there to get items,” Vickmark said, rather that “Nicole might be trying to end Carol’s life.”

Defense attorney Bruce Ringstrom Jr. questioned Vickmark about this and asked if Carol Mitchell’s paranoid state included concerns about Nicole Mitchell wanting money, to which Vickmark said yes.

Vickmark said he returned to Carol Mitchell’s home with other law enforcement officers to pinpoint Nicole Mitchell’s point of entry in the egress window. That’s where a blue crowbar was located by one of Carol Mitchell’s friends who came over later the morning of the break-in to comfort her.

James Hedlund, of Park Rapids, Minn., who was close friends with Carol Mitchell’s late husband, said he discovered the crowbar in the egress well window and they called police. He said they didn’t touch the crowbar, and he had never seen it before that morning.

Prosecutors accuse Nicole Mitchell of using the crowbar to enter the basement window.

Carol Mitchell said in testimony Tuesday that she called police back to search the window later the morning of the break-in. She had never seen the crowbar before and said it wasn’t the right one.

It became clear in testimony that a few key pieces of evidence were lost in the case, including a finger flashlight glove discovered on Nicole Mitchell during a pat down at the jail. The corrections officer said she wasn’t sure what happened to the glove.

Officer Ethan Wothe, who said the case was his first-ever burglary call, didn’t keep a list found in Mitchell’s backpack and admitted he didn’t understand the significance of the list at the time.

The backpack was found shoved into a smaller basement window. It contained laptops, water bottles and a checklist that could only be read when pausing his body-worn camera while he was holding the note. The list, written on the back of an envelope, said “do not disturb,” “delete texts,” “contacts,” “ringer off,” “flashlight,” “add tracking email” and a few other words the state couldn’t make out.

Defense said there was nothing about mementos on that list, but the prosecution maintained the word flashlight was on there, showing Nicole Mitchell’s preparedness to break in.

On Wednesday, Detroit Lakes Police Chief Steven Todd testified that he wished the agency had retained some key pieces of evidence and applied for a search warrant for Nicole Mitchell’s car and cellphone.

Carol Mitchell’s son Jonathan Kuehl was the first witness called by the defense.

Kuehl, who lives in Plymouth, reunited with his birth mom around 2003 after she put him up for adoption when she was 18. Kuehl said he saw Nicole Mitchell about three times, namely at Roderick Mitchell’s funeral.

“Rod’s passing was sudden and very sad…I was there to support mom. It was tragic…I felt really bad for Nicole,” Kuehl testified.

Text messages between Kuehl and Nicole Mitchell show them discussing Carol’s Alzheimer’s disease and paranoia. But on the witness stand, Kuehl said his mom, who he sees once every two of three months, can be “very functional.”

“The Alzheimer’s is there, its slowly progressing, but if there’s trauma, like the death of Rod was a huge hit, then you see the short-term memory…It’s just so difficult," he said.

Nancy Lund, the aunt of Nicole Mitchell and sister of Rod Mitchell, testified that Carol Mitchell told her around Thanksgiving 2022 that she had been diagnosed with Alzheimers. Lund said the news surprised her.

After her brother died, Lund said she helped with organizing finances for his estate totaling $173,00, according to probate court records presented at trial.

She said she stopped communicating with Carol Mitchell after she again accused her of stealing documents. Lund said this hurt even though she knew it “was the disease talking.”

McDonald, the county attorney, said in his cross-examination of Lund that Alzheimer’s is a very cruel disease, and Lund agreed.

“But you also understand that Carol Mitchell is not on trial here,” McDonald said.

“Yes,” Lund said.

She said that she reached out to Nicole Mitchell after the break-in and said “I don’t understand what you did. I don’t understand it.”