Alpha News, represented by the Upper Midwest Law Center (without charge), has filed an appeal of the state district court’s denial of its request for the release of the police body-camera video of Sen. Nicole Mitchell’s burglary arrest.
As James Madison once said, “to the press alone, checkered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.” James Madison, Report on the Virginia Resolutions to the House of Representatives (Jan. 20, 1800), in Words of the Founding Fathers 101 (Steve Coffman ed. 2012). Alpha news seeks to fulfill this mission today by uncovering the truth of what happened on April 22, 2024 when Sen. Mitchell was arrested on suspicion of first-degree burglary.
Here is what Minnesotans do know. Early in the morning on April 22, officers from the Detroit Lakes Police Department responded to a 911 call on a report that someone broke into a residence. According to the criminal complaint filed against her, Sen. Mitchell was found in the basement of the residence and told officers “I know I did something bad.” Starting the very next day, Sen. Mitchell appeared to tell a different story. Using her preeminent position, she has made numerous public statements which appear to contradict the government’s charging documents. Without clarity about who is lying and who is telling the truth, Minnesotans are unable to hold one of their elected officials accountable. And, importantly, the Minnesota Senate has been unable to move forward on an ethics complaint filed against Sen. Mitchell.
Luckily, Minnesota Law has a provision for situations like this. Although data like body-camera footage that is part of an active criminal investigation is usually confidential, any person can “bring an action in the district court located in the county where the data are being maintained to authorize disclosure of investigative data.” Minn. Stat. § 13.82, subd. 7. Disclosure is warranted under the statute if “the benefit to the person bringing the action or to the public outweighs any harm to the public, to the agency or to any person identified in the data.” Id.
We think that standard is easily met in this case. Minnesotans would benefit greatly from knowing more about what happened when a sitting state senator was arrested on suspicion of felony burglary. The harm to others identified in the video, on the other hand, is quite small. The victim of the burglary, Sen. Mitchell’s stepmother, has already given an interview with local media. And “[p]rospective jurors cannot be presumed partial solely on the ground of exposure to pretrial publicity.” State v. Kinsky, 348 N.W.2d 319, 323 (Minn. 1984). As the Court of Appeals held in the Derek Chauvin case, “prominence does not necessarily produce prejudice and juror impartiality” and jurors are not required to be ignorant. State v. Chauvin, 989 N.W.2d 1, 19 (Minn. Ct. App. 2023) (quoting Skilling v. United States, 561 U.S. 358, 381 (2010)). If the footage of his treatment of George Floyd was not prejudicial harm for Derek Chauvin, as the Minnesota Court of Appeals concluded, releasing this footage is certainly not prejudicial to Nicole Mitchell.
The Becker County District Court disagreed. It determined that fulfilling the public’s desire to know more information could not qualify as a public benefit under Minnesota Statutes, section 13.82, subdivision 7. That decision essentially restricts the release of dash- and body-camera footage obtained as part of an active criminal investigation to situations where police officers are themselves accused of misconduct. If upheld, that decision would create an unfair double standard where some government officials—police officers—can be scrutinized through the public’s review of their recorded body-camera footage, while other government officials—such as a sitting state senator—are insulated from scrutiny when interacting with the police. This is fundamentally unfair.
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Allie Howell
Allie Howell is Trial and Appellate Counsel for the Upper Midwest Law Center.
