“Unless the state can rule out that Nicole Mitchell entered just to check on Carol, then the verdict must be not guilty,” said defense attorney Bruce Ringstrom Jr. in his nearly hour-long closing argument Friday.
Jurors hadn’t delivered their verdict as of 4 p.m. but observers were starting to gather in the court rooom.
Ringstrom said that his client is a veteran, legislator, mom, lawyer and daughter who wouldn’t throw away her entire life “for things she knew she was going to get anyway.” He said Nicole Mitchell visited her stepmother five times after her father died and could’ve taken any mementos on those visits. She was promised the shirt and photos that were in the basement. Ringstrom said she could’ve taken them and left, but instead she went upstairs to check on Carol Mitchell.
Minnesota Sen. Nicole Mitchell’s attorney Bruce Ringstrom Jr. presents to the jury a flashlight with a sock over it during trial on Friday. (Anna Paige)
Becker County Attorney Brian McDonald said in his 20-minute closing argument that Nicole Mitchell never placed a welfare call, but instead drove 220 miles in the middle of the night, dressed in all black and packed flashlights, latex gloves and a small crowbar device used to break into the basement window.
“Who packs a freaking prybar just in case?” McDonald said to the jury when urging them to use common sense and not fall for “the many lies of Nicole Mitchell.”
Mitchell, 50, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree burglary and felony possession of burglary tools. The case could threaten her career and the political balance of the Minnesota Senate, which her party controls by a single vote.
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