Star Tribune
Sen. Mitchell case reveals grace gap for the powerless
On a phone call with D.A. Bullock earlier this week, I imagined what might have happened if I’d faced similar accusations leveled last month against state Sen. Nicole Mitchell after an alleged incident at her stepmother’s home in Detroit Lakes.
She was arrested and faces first-degree burglary charges and calls for her resignation.
“I wonder how many times the police would have shot me if I’d gone into someone’s home, for any reason, wearing all-black in the middle of the night,” I asked Bullock.
We both laughed but we also knew it was true.
I called Bullock, an award-winning filmmaker in Minneapolis and a community organizer, to vent about Mitchell’s situation.
Her predicament has been met by members of her community with love, kindness, support and consideration. Families are complicated. And family drama is not an issue of race, gender or class. Some folks deal with it from the moment they’re born. For others, it comes later in life. But we all have to navigate familial challenges.
Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, has denied the police account that she broke into her stepmother’s home and stole items and, instead, said she’d gone there for a wellness check on a family member. She said she entered the home in part because of the grief she’s endured after losing her father. As a result, her supporters have cautioned that any untoward behavior was the result of the emotional burdens that losing a dear relative can yield. My friends and family members who’ve lost parents have described the days, months and years that followed as a blur.
But I also witnessed an affluent white woman in Minnesota receive the benefit of the doubt young Black men and women accused of crimes in this city rarely enjoy. I am fine with the empathy, but why isn’t it granted to others? That’s the part that bothered me. I know Black folks in their 40s, 50s and 60s who continue to grapple with decisions they made in their teens, long before they had their full cerebral capabilities. And when they made those choices, folks did not consider their circumstances or predicaments. They were, like so many others, simply discarded by an inequitable justice system before anyone thought to say, “Let’s find out what really happened here.”
It happened in my family.
Years ago, one of my relatives awoke to the sounds of a group of men entering a home he shared with his mother in the middle of the night. He, too, had encountered a turbulent familial situation prior to that evening. The men, whom he knew, assaulted him. In his weariness, he grabbed a weapon and fired. According to police, a bullet hit and killed one of his assailants as he turned to run. My relative, who was concerned for his mother’s safety, was arrested and sentenced to a lengthy prison stint.
In his case, and in the cases of so many other Black folks, the details rarely matter. I wish they did.
I figured Bullock would agree with my premise. But he suggested my focus might miss the mark.
“I don’t think [Mitchell] should resign and I don’t think she committed a crime,” Bullock said. “I know law enforcement shows up in many technical, law-breaking situations and they [figure out] that this is a family dispute that ended up with one person holding onto the other person’s [items]. They often make way for those things to not be applied as you’re going to get charged and arrested.”
He made a fair point. All of this relates to the lack of empathy in the law itself and how it’s used. We live in a place where the threshold for lawmakers and police officers is often based on what they can do, rather than what they should do. The latter demands grace and delicate analysis of the circumstances that preceded an alleged crime. It also requires a level of humanity that’s not always present when those with the power to execute punishment emphasize procedure over pain and the other burdens that can fuel our worst days.
“When we get into these conversations and we get a chance to talk about what the standards are for us versus what they are for the majority of white folks in this country, the argument gets flattened,” Bullock said. “It becomes, ‘Who gets the most special privileges?'” That’s never been our argument. Our argument has always been, ‘Why can’t we have a system that can be applied fairly regardless of who you are?'”
He’s right.
And that — not the aftermath of the senator’s alleged actions — is the center of my ire.
I do not believe my life would have been spared if I’d been intercepted by police amid similar circumstances, though. And even if I’d survived, my professional ambitions would have been erased.
Yet, the probability of those outcomes does not nullify the fairness Bullock discussed.
I just wish the execution of our laws was steeped in more empathy. For everyone.
The family of 6-year-old Eli Hart, who was shot and killed by his mother in 2022, on Wednesday reached a $2.25 million wrongful death settlement with Dakota County.
The lawsuit, which was filed three months after Eli’s death, accused the county’s Social Services department of gross and willful negligence when it returned Eli to the custody of his mother, Julissa Thaler.
“It is definitely a bit of a relief just to have some resolution to this very long case,” said Josephine Josephson, Eli’s stepmother. “It’s a lot of stress to have an ongoing case with a delicate subject.
“I think Dakota County, obviously, they agreed to our settlement without taking any faults. But I think that they truly know that something did go wrong and that they should make corrective actions.”
The settlement stipulates that $1.2 million be paid to Eli’s father, Tory Hart. Three of the boy’s grandparents will receive $25,000 each. The balance of the settlement will cover attorney fees and other costs.
In the years since Eli’s death, his family has created the Eli Hart Foundation. Josephson said Wednesday that the settlement will help the organization establish a scholarship fund and create a legal assistance service for parents who don’t have the means to fight for custody of their children.
“It’s a scary place to be,” Josephson said.
At least 100 University of Minnesota students living in Comstock Hall had no heat in their dorm rooms this week as temperatures dipped below freezing.
Officials say the issue was expected to be resolved by Wednesday night. About two-thirds of the dorm rooms in Minneapolis on the East Bank were fixed by mid-afternoon.
University officials said about 100 out of the hall’s 356 total rooms were affected by the lack of heat, first reported by FOX 9. Last week, maintenance began receiving a higher-than-normal number of requests to fix heating in dorm rooms, though some reports had been made earlier, said Susan Stubblefield, the U’s director of housing and residential life.
“Due to the nature of the heating system in the building, the scope of the problem was not known until reported by residents in each individual room,” Stubblefield said.
A warm fall season and having students leave for the holiday break meant the “full impact of the issue was unknown until the temperatures dipped in recent days,” she said.
Mechanics began working extended hours, including over the Thanksgiving weekend, to make repairs, Stubblefield said.
Air pockets had entered the heating system when maintenance was conducted during the system’s transition from cooling to heating, and that affects the system’s efficiency. The pockets affected some units more than others, Stubblefield said.
To fix things and regain full efficiency, maintenance staff has to clear out the air pockets from the fan coil unit in each individual room. Students were given electric space heaters until maintenance could get to their rooms, Stubblefield said. It’s possible some additional rooms could be affected.
DULUTH – With freshly selected jurors waiting nearby for the start of an expected days-long trial, a Duluth man facing criminal sexual conduct charges took a last-minute plea deal instead of facing the women he abused when they were children.
Clint Franklin Massie, 49, pleaded guilty Wednesday morning at the St. Louis County Courthouse to the four counts from incidents dating back to 2008-09 when two of his victims were young girls. The deal dismissed one of the counts against him. His sentencing is scheduled for March 20, and he could end up with more than nine years in prison. Massie, who was initially charged in February 2023 and has been out on $300,000 bail, was released until his sentencing.
In each case, the victim was known to Massie — whether they were related or through their shared membership at Old Apostolic Lutheran Church. He was friends with their parents and regarded as a fun, child-free uncle, according to reports from the investigation.
Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Michael Ryan told the court that the victims were satisfied with the deal.
“They have been involved in talking this through,” he said to Judge Dale Harris.
After Massie pleaded guilty, would-be witnesses and their supporters filed into the courtroom filling rows. Massie, dressed in a dark suit coat and khaki pants, turned to look. Ryan questioned him on the victims’ accusations — four specific scenarios where he had touched girls: during a sleepover at his house, when alone on a tractor, or beneath a blanket while others were in the room.
Massie said in court there were a lot of big gatherings and shared meals within this the group. It wasn’t unusual for one of the many children to sit on his lap.
At times Massie paused and said he couldn’t remember exact details or motives. At other times he deferred to what he told investigating officers last year. In each instance he ultimately agreed with the scenario presented by the prosecution.
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