GCU News Bureau
A Grand Canyon University graduate has become a major part of the national sexual assault case involving Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Rachel Mitchell, chief of the Special Victims Division in the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, was tabbed by Senate Republicans to question Kavanaugh and the first woman to accuse him of assault, Christine Blasey Ford, during a Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday.
Mitchell spoke as the interrogator on behalf of the 11 male GOP members of the committee, while the 10 committee Democrats spoke for themselves.
The hearing began Thursday morning and is scheduled to wrap up this afternoon. A USA Today story characterized Mitchell's initial questioning as a "considerate, businesslike manner befitting an experienced career sex crimes prosecutor" in which she avoided the "barbed clashes" or "politically-laden" remarks of others on the committee.
Kavanaugh has been accused by Ford of sexually assaulting Ford when they were teenagers.
Since Ford came forward, allegations from two other women have emerged. Kavanaugh has denied all the accusations, according to The Associated Press.
Kavanaugh is currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Mitchell graduated from GCU, then Grand Canyon College, before earning her law degree from Arizona State University in 1992. She started at the County Attorney’s Office that same year and has worked under County Attorneys Rick Romley, Andrew Thomas and current County Attorney Bill Montgomery, according to a story by 12 News.
Mitchell helped create the first-ever sex-crimes protocol for the County Attorney Office’s that was introduced last year, according to The AP.
She currently oversees 50 prosecutors and a staff of 70. The office handles hundreds of cases a year from law enforcement agencies in the country’s fourth-largest county, according to 12 News.
