Nicole Mitchell MUST resign

I'd wanted to avoid wading into State Sen. Nicole Michell's allegedly burglary at her step-mother's home in Detroit Lakes but it's impossible to after the ridiculous statements last night by Abou Amara and former State Sen. Jeffrey Hayden during last night's Almanac Roundtable discussion.

First, for those who aren't familiar with what's in the police report that police filled out after Mitchell's stepmother called 9-1-1, here's what the Strib is reporting:

Officers found Mitchell, a first-term senator from Woodbury, in the basement of her stepmother's Detroit Lakes house. Mitchell was dressed in black and admitted to entering her stepmother's house through a sliding basement window, according to the criminal complaint. Police said they found a flashlight covered with a black sock — dimming its brightness — near Mitchell, and a backpack wedged in the open basement window. That backpack contained several items, including a laptop that the criminal complaint suggests belonged to Mitchell's stepmother.

That isn't all. There's more:

Mitchell was arrested and charged with felony first-degree burglary. She allegedly told police, "I know I did something bad," but that she entered the home to take some of her late father's belongings, including his ashes.

The charging document further states that as Mitchell 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.'" Her father died last year, and his estate was left entirely to his wife, according to court documents.

I've heard of storing documents on a computer's thumb drive or on a laptop's hard drive but I've never heard of storing a dead person's ashes on a laptop's hard drive and I don't I ever will. After watching the DFL's shills, aka Abu Amara and Jeffrey Hayden, I don't think that I can trust either of them again. First, watch this video:

At one point in the discussion, Amara said "Amy's point essentially is that the people of Minnesota can't get what they're entitled to from their representatives because their state senator maybe committed a crime."

Sen. Mitchell knew that the State Senate had a 34-33 DFL majority. If she wanted to do something questionable, she shouldn't have allegedly broken into her stepmother's home. What Amara is arguing for sounds a lot like Sen. Mitchell shouldn't be suspended while she's investigated. If one of us was accused of doing something like this, our employer should have every right to suspend us with pay until the allegations were investigated. Is Amara suggesting that Sen. Mitchell should receive preferential treatment? That's what it sounds like.

Amara then threw into the discussion that Trump is spending lots of time in a NYC courtroom because he's been charged with a faux crime. Let's get serious, people. Serious legal scholars from across the political spectrum have said that the Trump charges are outrageous and shouldn't have been brought. The defense still hasn't been told what the underlying crime is. By comparison, Sen. Mitchell has been charged with legitimate crimes based on the Detroit Lakes PD police report.

That report was found credible enough to attain an indictment.Sen. Hayden also said "I'm a little taken aback that when the cops say something, that's it. We have a defense attorney sitting in our midst. There is this other side."

WOW. That's frightening from a former state senator. That's customary. People are charged each day without getting to tell their side of the story. It's called an indictment, which doesn't require the defendant to testify. It just requires the prosecutor to prove that he/she has enough of a case proven ti the level of meeting probable cause. If a person goes to trial, that person is entitled to crossexamine the prosecution's witnesses. The prosecutor must also prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt./p>

The DFL apparently expects special treatment. That shouldn't happen. It's time for Minnesota to sign this petition.