Former state Sen. Nicole Mitchell must serve 6 months in jail for felony burglary
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Former state Sen. Nicole Mitchell has been sentenced to 180 days in jail following her burglary conviction this summer.
Becker County Judge Michael Fritz handed down the sentence in Detroit Lakes Tuesday morning. Mitchell will be allowed to serve her sentence in Ramsey County.
Mitchell was found guilty of felony burglary and possession of burglary tools by a jury in July.
Before receiving her sentence, Mitchell expressed remorse for her actions, saying “I don't think there is anything I can say or do that will ever be big enough to repair the harm that I've done.”
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Mitchell was arrested on April 22, 2024, in Detroit Lakes, after she broke into her stepmother Carol Mitchell’s home through a basement window. She later said she was doing a “welfare” check on her stepmother, who has Alzheimer’s.
Mitchell said she cared about her stepmother and “wanted to help” but “made continuous bad decisions.”
“I messed everything up, and I did something wrong,” she said. “And I will work on being a better person, and with whatever is decided here today, trying to use that time to reflect on how I possibly repair this.”
During a brief court recess, Carol Mitchell and her family could be overheard saying the apology seemed directed to the court and was not a direct apology to Carol Mitchell herself.
When speaking to the press after the sentencing, Carol Mitchell said she didn’t think the 6-month sentence quite accounted for what her stepdaughter put her through.
“But at least I know it’s going to hurt her, with her children and losing her job and that type of thing. So I guess there’s definite repercussions for what she did.”
Judge Fritz said the law mandates a six-month jail sentence for first degree burglary of an occupied dwelling. And he pointed out that an Appeals Court ruling in a case called State v. Rausch upheld that requirement.
The defense had asked Judge Fritz to stay Mitchell's jail sentence so that she could challenge State v. Rausch.
But the judge said “there is no reason … to believe it would be overturned.” He said it “remains good law.”
He also declined to reduce Mitchell’s felonies to misdemeanors, which the defense had requested.
“There is no legal authority that allows or instructs this court to weigh those consequences and reduce the criminal sentence mandated by statute,” he said.
But the judge did authorize Mitchell for work release, which would allow her to work during the day. And a concession he made to the defense was to allow her to serve her time in Ramsey County, closer to her home, rather than in Becker County, where she committed the crime.
Mitchell’s lawyer, Dane DeKrey, said that as a felon, Mitchell has struggled to find work but did recently land a job in fast food.
Under work release, Mitchell would be allowed to go to work during the day. At night, she will have to sleep in the Ramsey County jail.
She’ll start her jail sentence in October.
Prior to sentencing, the defense and prosecution offered competing versions of how they thought Mitchell should be punished for her crimes in advance of the sentencing.
Mitchell, a Democrat from Woodbury, resigned from her District 47 Senate seat a week after being found guilty.
