Attorneys for Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, filed a motion today in Becker County District Court to delay her criminal trial until after May 19. It is scheduled to begin Jan. 27. 

The motion cites Minnesota Statute Section 3.16, saying it “authorizes the postponement of a judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding in which a legislator is involved as a party, attorney, or witness while the legislature is in session … Section 3.16 thus affords legislators [this] privilege, which they are free to exercise or to waive.”

Judge Michel D. Fritz has scheduled a hearing on a number of motions before the court for Jan. 14, and her attorneys are requesting their motion to delay is heard on that day. The motion also asked that Mitchell be allowed to attend that hearing remotely so she can attend the legislative session, which begins Jan. 14. The judge granted that request.

He ruled earlier that audio and video coverage of the trial will be allowed but did not approve livestreaming the proceedings.

Mitchell was arrested in April after allegedly breaking into her stepmother’s house in Detroit Lakes. According to the criminal complaint, Mitchell told the victim she was trying to retrieve a few items of her late father’s since “you wouldn’t talk to me anymore.” Mitchell, a first-term lawmaker, has called the incident a misunderstanding and has withstood several calls for her to resign her Senate seat.