State Sen. Nicole Mitchell took the stand Thursday in her criminal trial, testifying that she once had a close relationship with her stepmother Carol Mitchell — but that changed in recent years as Carol experienced the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
Mitchell, a DFLer from Woodbury, faces charges of first degree attempted burglary and possession of burglary tools for allegedly breaking into Carol Mitchell’s Detroit Lakes home in April 2024.
“She was one of my parents,” Mitchell said, recalling her experience with her stepmother before her diagnosis with Alzheimer’s. “I always remember Carol being in my life and as a mother figure, and so it was nice to have another mother figure.”
Questioned in the afternoon by her defense attorney, Mitchell said her actions were wrong but came out of concern about her stepmother.
"I don't take things," she told the court, adding that she could have taken clothes or other belongings of her father from the house during her prior visits. In police body camera video, however, Mitchell can be heard saying she had come to collect items of her father.
"I did trespass," she testified. "I understand that I did the wrong thing. To me, it felt different because it was my parents' house and I had a key and I'd been in and out of there for years."
‘I didn’t want to upset her’
Nicole Mitchell told the court her relationship with Carol Mitchell changed beginning in 2021 when she said Carol’s memory lapses became more pronounced and that she visited Nicole’s family less frequently and experienced paranoia.
“She just started cycling through people that she trusted,” Nicole Mitchell said, saying her stepmother started to “get lost.” “I thought we needed to work with Carol to know her wishes while she was still having really good days so we weren’t doing anything down the road that weren’t her wishes.”
Mitchell’s attorneys also asked Mitchell about her family and professional background Thursday morning. Testimony was set to continue into the afternoon.
The defense also presented a series of text messages between Nicole and Carol Mitchell that indicated Carol Mitchell had a small amount of her late husband’s ashes in a “gone fishing” bobber for Nicole. And the two seemed to disagree about the date when they would inter the rest of the ashes, eventually leading to a date that Nicole and her children weren’t able to attend in 2024.
“I didn’t want to upset her, because she would get agitated. And I felt like it just seemed like shutting down my emotions to not rock the boat, and she was giving away that stuff without telling us, so that we couldn’t even look at it,” Nicole Mitchell said. “It was so hard because we loved him, too.”
Nicole Mitchell said she ultimately got part of her father’s remains from Carol Mitchell.
‘She felt threatened, she was scared’
The prosecution in the case closed its case on Wednesday after bringing law enforcement and family members to the stand to testify that Carol Mitchell was afraid of her stepdaughter and worried she wanted to take her money. Nicole Mitchell’s late father died without a will.
In this case, Mitchell’s attorney said in his opening statement, it comes down to Nicole Mitchell’s intent.
“A burglary charge requires that the state prove that someone had an intent to commit a crime inside the building,” he said. “The only real issue here is Nicole Mitchell's intent. We're not disputing that Nicole entered without consent. She did. There are two possibilities: Nicole entered to steal something, Nicole Mitchell entered to check on Carol. Unless the state's evidence can rule out that Nicole Mitchell entered just to check on Carol Mitchell, then the verdict must be not guilty.”
Jurors heard testimony Wednesday from Pam Muxfeldt, Carol Mitchell’s niece and goddaughter, who would have power of attorney for Carol if needed.
Becker County Attorney Brian McDonald asked Muxfeldt about the relationship between Carol and Nicole.
“After either talking to her, or they had conversations through text messages, Carol would feel uncomfortable. She felt threatened, she was scared, and different things of that sort. So she would reach out,” Muxfeldt said.
Muxfeldt read aloud from a 2023 text message sent to her by Carol Mitchell expressing concern that Nicole was “greedy” and was going to try to take her “to the cleaners” after Rod Mitchell, Carol’s husband and Nicole’s father, died without a will.
Muxfeldt noted that she and Mitchell had not had contact since 2023 and Mitchell did not reach out to her to inquire about her stepmother’s health.
One of the witnesses called by the defense, Nancy Lund, provided additional perspective on Carol Mitchell’s deteriorating mental acuity, which Nicole Mitchell’s attorneys say drove her to check in on stepmother.
Lund echoed some of Nicole Mitchell’s concerns, expressed in police body camera footage and on social media, about Carol’s alleged paranoia.
Lund recounted trying to help her sister-in-law get her financial documents in order following Rod Mitchell’s death. She read from text messages from Carol Mitchell showing confusion on several occasions, including where she had parked or where she had left notebooks.
And Lund read from a text exchange in which Carol Mitchell accused her of taking her documents, which hurt her feelings.
“I knew it was her disease that was talking there and not herself,” she said.
Like Nicole Mitchell, Lund ultimately found her relationship with Carol Mitchell souring, but she said, “I believe Nicole loved Carol and still does.”
During cross-examination, Becker County Attorney Brian McDonald sought to reframe the stakes.
“Ms. Lund, there's no doubt you tried to help Carol Mitchell. Fair to say? And Alzheimer's is a very cruel disease,” he said, to which she responded affirmatively.
“But you also understand that Carol Mitchell is not on trial here?” he asked.
Jurors for the case were picked Monday. On Tuesday, they heard opening statements, saw body camera video from responding officers, heard the 911 call made by Carol Mitchell, Nicole’s stepmother and heard directly from Carol Mitchell.
The body camera footage showed the arrest of Nicole Mitchell in the basement of the Detroit Lakes home. She was dressed in all black, including a stocking cap. She was cooperative with police and told them she was there to get a few mementos of her late father, including a flannel shirt and some photos.
Carol Mitchell also testified, though she had a hard time remembering specific details.
Becker County Attorney Brian McDonald said this is a clear case of burglary.
Thomas Plunkett, a defense attorney who has represented people in more than 100 trials, said it can be a difficult decision to put a client on the witness stand. And it can yield mixed results.
“The attorney can give all the input they want, but that is a client decision,” Plunkett said. “The things you want to tell your client are: what the risks are, what the benefits are. It's a very difficult decision. It's very intricate based on the individual facts of an individual case.”
Plunkett said given Mitchell’s experience as a state senator and meteorologist, she appears to be poised and able to handle the stress and spotlight on the stand.
“That's what you would want to see in a client as you're trying to advise them as to what to do,” he said.
“It's not an easy thing to testify in court, the questions are shot at you in the most uncomfortable setting you could possibly find yourself,” he noted. “But those are certainly the sorts of things you would want to consider.”
Plunkett said criminal defendants can help themselves a lot by testifying, but in some cases, it could hurt them if they stumble or wither under cross examination, and could push a jury toward convicting them.
“I've seen it go both ways. I've seen people save themselves. I've seen people hang themselves,” he said.
