ALEXANDRIA, Minn. – Embattled State Senator Nicole Mitchell pleaded not guilty to burglarizing her stepmother’s house in Alexandria last April. The case is closely watched because Mitchell, a Democrat from the St. Paul suburbs, is critical for the one-vote Democratic majority in the Senate. In entering her plea Mitchell asked explicitly for a jury trial and also a pre-trial conference. Mitchell was caught in the act of breaking into the house but says a strained relationship with her stepmother is an exculpatory factor. Also, she says the theft charge is based on a laptop computer she was taking from the house. The ownership of the laptop, she says is not her stepmother’s.
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