Former vice cop facing second murder trial took the Fifth in civil lawsuit
A former Columbus police vice officer facing a second trial in the 2018 shooting death of a woman he tried to handcuff declined nearly two dozen questions in a federal civil lawsuit deposition in January involving another woman who accused him of handcuffing and sexually assaulting her, transcripts show.
Andrew Mitchell, the former vice officer, has also sold several of his rental properties in Columbus while he awaits a second murder trial in Franklin County Common Pleas Court and a federal trial later this year, The Dispatch has learned.
Mitchell, 58, is facing charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter in connection with the Aug. 23, 2018 death of 23-year-old Donna Dalton Castleberry, a sex worker he had picked up earlier on the Hilltop while he worked undercover.
Mitchell maintains that it was a justified, self-defense shooting as Castleberry stabbed him in the hand and was resisting arrest when he attempted to handcuff her. The state argues Mitchell was not carrying his badge or police radio at the time and that Castleberry did not believe Mitchell was a vice officer, something Mitchell himself texted via cellphone to his backup officers.
A jury in April was unable to return a unanimous verdict, resulting in a mistrial. He is now scheduled to face trial on those charges again in October.
Mitchell is also facing federal charges in U.S. District Court in Columbus accusing him of forcing women to engage in sexual activity in exchange for their freedom, as well as lying to FBI investigators. That trial is expected to take place after the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office retries Mitchell on the murder charges in October.
In addition to the criminal cases, Mitchell is also fighting a civil lawsuit filed in 2020 in U.S. District Court. As part of that lawsuit, Mitchell sat for a deposition on Jan. 27. That deposition’s transcript was filed as part of the public record of the case on Tuesday.
During the 46-minute deposition, Mitchell invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, on the advice of his attorneys, 23 times.
The lawsuit against Mitchell was filed by a woman identified as “Jane Doe,” who accuses Mitchell of forcing the woman to engage in sexual activity against her will in 2017 by handcuffing her to his vehicle so she couldn’t escape.
The lawsuit also accuses Mitchell of sexually assaulting the woman a second time in February 2018, flashing his badge at her, handcuffing her to the vehicle and forcing her out of the vehicle without her pants, according to the lawsuit.
Mitchell invoked his right to remain silent on pointed questions during the deposition, asking whether he knew of any Columbus police policies that would bar officers from kidnapping suspects, sexually assaulting suspects or engaging in consensual sexual activity while on duty.
However, Mitchell did answer questions about the types of vehicles he owned in 2017 and 2018, including a dark gray 2013 Cadillac XTS that was similar to the description the woman had given of the vehicle Mitchell was driving when he assaulted her.
According to that document, which was sent to then-Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan in April 2019, the complaint was filed against Mitchell on Aug. 8, 2018 — 15 days before Castleberry was shot.
Mitchell was not relieved of his duties or moved to desk duty while the investigation of the complaint by the police division’s Special Victims Bureau was pending, which the timeline said began on Aug. 17, 2018.
The Dispatch has also learned that Mitchell has sold three properties he owned in Columbus. According to records from the Franklin County Auditor’s website, Mitchell sold a home he owned and had rented out on the 1100 block of East 20th Avenue in South Linden for $38,900 in March 2020.
This past May, Mitchell sold two properties on the 1900 block of Denune Avenue on the Northeast Side to a Powell-based development company for $560,000. Those properties comprised a small, 12-unit apartment complex.
The Denune Avenue properties were searched by the FBI in April 2019 in connection with their criminal investigation of Mitchell.
Mitchell still owns 11 properties in Franklin County, according to the auditor’s website. Mitchell and his wife also own a home in Delaware County.