A Minnesota Senate ethics panel weighing a complaint against state Sen. Nicole Mitchell stemming from her felony burglary charge is postponing action until next month.

Members of the Senate Subcommittee on Ethics who met Wednesday agreed to table the issue until after Mitchell’s July 1 court date.

The Woodbury Democratic-Farmer-Labor senator faces a criminal charge after allegedly breaking into her estranged stepmother’s Detroit Lakes home in April.

Mitchell’s attorney Bruce Ringstrom Jr. told the ethics panel the senator may enter a not guilty plea at next month’s hearing, and that the case likely won’t be resolved until later this year.

Minority Senate Republicans who brought the ethics complaint say the seriousness of the charge as well as contradictions in Mitchell’s accounts of events warranted an investigation.

While some DFLers have said Mitchell’s case should be resolved in court before the Senate takes any action, a number, including the state party chair Ken Martin, Gov. Tim Walz and her DFL Senate colleagues, have called for her resignation. Mitchell has said she does not plan to step down.

Mitchell’s criminal case caused disruptions in the final month of this year’s legislative session, delaying votes and prompting Republican floor motions including one aimed at stripping Mitchell of her ability to vote. Her vote was key in the Senate DFL passing legislation, as the party controls a one-seat majority in the Senate.

Members of the ethics committee planned to meet after her first court hearing which was originally scheduled for June 10. That hearing was pushed back, so the two DFL and two Republican committee members agreed to meet again on July 25.

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