A Minnesota State Senator was arrested for burglary yesterday. 

You can't make this stuff up. She showed up at her late father's house and broke in in the wee hours of the night. Dressed in black clothes, a black hat, with a black bag, and a flashlight with a black sock over it to reduce the light emitted from it. 

As she told the police when she was caught hiding in the basement, "Clearly, I am not good at this."

She can say that again. 

My wife works for the Minnesota State Senate, so I have a very distant interest in this case. After all, she works for the Republican minority, and they are only a minority by one vote. If Sen. Nicole Mitchell resigns the Republicans will have a lot more power. 

Our local paper, the Star Tribune, actually covered this by including the party of Mitchell in the headline--she is a member of the Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party, our version of the Democrat Party.

Kudos. Credit where credit is due. 

Multiple Sources: DFL is floating to multiple members of the media that @Sen_NMitchell was staying at her step mom’s house, step mom has dementia, got scared and called cops. Apparently even the MN Media isn’t buying this spin because it doesn’t jive with an arrest, booking, and…

— Nathan M. Hansen (@nathanmhansen) April 22, 2024

The first spin that came out of the Minnesota Senate implied that it was all a big mistake--a senile relative of the Senator forgot she gave permission to enter the home and take things. 

Not so much. It was indeed a burglary.

Mitchell, a first-term senator from Woodbury, was arrested in Detroit Lakesearly Monday morning. Officers responded to a burglary call around 4:45 a.m. and arrested the 49-year-old Mitchell at the scene.

Police found Mitchell in the basement of her stepmother's home, according to the charges filed Tuesday. The senator was "dressed in all black clothing and a black hat." As she was being detained, she told her stepmother something to the effect of, "I was just trying to get a couple of my dad's things because you wouldn't talk to me anymore," the charges state. Her father died last year.

Officers found a flashlight near Mitchell that had a black sock covering over it. A sliding window in the basement had been opened and had a black backpack stuck in it, according to the charges.

"Officers searched the backpack and discovered two laptops, a cell phone, MITCHELL's Minnesota driver's license, MITCHELL's Senate identification, and miscellaneous Tupperware," the charging document states. Mitchell allegedly told an officer that both laptops were hers and that she had "just gotten into the house," and commented "clearly I'm not good at this."

After an officer read Mitchell her Miranda warning, Mitchell stated "I know I did something bad," the filing states. She told the officer her father recently passed away and that her stepmother ceased all contact with the family. Mitchell wanted some of her late father's belongings, such as pictures, a flannel shirt and ashes, and said her stepmother had refused to give them to her.

Both laptops weren't hers, by the way. Nor did Mitchell have any rights to the effects she was stealing--her father had left his estate to his wife. All of it. 

Mitchell had driven 3 1/2 hours--starting at 1 a.m.--to break into her stepmother's home, pretty much proving her intent to break in and steal what she wanted. Last I checked people don't show up to a person's home unannounced at 4:30 in the morning, enter through a basement window, and start bagging up other's possessions innocently. 

At least I never have. Perhaps I am unusual. 

The senator admitted to police that she left Woodbury around 1 a.m. to get to the house, and that she entered through the window where the backpack was found, the complaint states. An officer asked her what brought her to this point and she said it was her father's ashes.

One of the items that Mitchell attempted to take was a laptop that appears to belong to her stepmother, according to the charging document: An officer "opened the laptop and pressed a button and Victim's name popped up. The laptop was not password protected. MITCHELL then stated that Victim gave her the laptop 'way back when.'" The stepmother told the officer she never gave Mitchell the laptop.

She's charged with first-degree burglary, a felony, that comes with a sentence of anywhere from six months in the workhouse to 20 years in prison. As a first-time offender, Mitchell would be unlikely to get the maximum. The charge also carries a fine of up to $35,000.

Mitchell, of course, hardly deserves a 20-year sentence for her crime. While she was doing a bad thing, and knowingly breaking the law, she isn't a hardened criminal. 

But she is emblematic of the Democrat's rather flexible idea of the law. The Democrats have spent years weakening law enforcement, and as an AWFL, Mitchell has been part of that movement. No doubt she will remain a part of that movement in the State Senate, as she goes through the criminal justice system. 

They need her vote. 

In case it wasn’t obvious to everyone, the phrase “in the coming days and weeks” is designed to signal that Mitchell will be back at the legislature to ram through the trifecta agenda despite her spending some time in jail.

Agenda first, ethics later (maybe). https://t.co/CG9vGbHvWP

— Jeff Kolb (@jpkolb) April 23, 2024

Generally speaking, I am leery of jumping into the middle of a family dispute over the death of a loved one; they are the definition of messy. 

But in this case, an arrogant lawmaker is getting the attention she deserves. And the Democrats are going to have to defend her because hers is the key vote on many issues. 

So, as the Democrats explain to us that "nobody is above the law" when defending the absurd cases against Donald Trump, expect Minnesota Democrats to simultaneously explain why one of their members is--in about as cut and dried a case as you have ever seen. 

It should be fun.  

UPDATE: Sen Mitchell has released a statement, and it is a doozy. 

Two years ago this week, I lost my mother to Alzheimers. I've got nothing but compassion. Trust me.

But I remember how many times I drove through the night to her place, dressed in black, and went in through a non-door at 4:45 AM to grab stuff.

Happens to everyone. #NotPouncing pic.twitter.com/4nJ0QLGSJE

— Mitch "The Wałęsa Project" Berg 🇺🇸 (@mitchpberg) April 23, 2024