Prosecutors want Barzee force-medicated

Salt Lake County prosecutors on Monday asked a judge to consider the forced medication of accused Elizabeth Smart kidnapper Wanda Eileen Barzee.

Third District Judge Judith Atherton set a hearing on the matter for Feb. 16.

The judge will hear testimony from experts, then weigh several factors, including whether there is a substantial likelihood that drugs can make Barzee mentally competent to stand trial.

Prosecutors claim doctors at the Utah State Hospital have exhausted all other avenues of treatment except for drugs.

Barzee – who contends she is guided by God and is not mentally ill – has refused to take drugs or participate in group therapy at the hospital.

Barzee’s defense team claims drugs should not be used because there is little likelihood they will change her mental condition.

Like Barzee, her husband and co-defendant Brian David Mitchell has been deemed incompetent to stand trial and also is being treated at the state hospital.

Barzee has been there since March 2004. Mitchell has been there since Aug. 11, 2005.

Mitchell, 51, and Barzee, 59, allegedly kidnapped then 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart in June 5, 2002, from her Federal Heights home.

Elizabeth was rescued March 12, 2003, after she, Mitchell and Barzee were spotted walking down a street in Sandy.

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