Category: Elizabeth Smart

More than eight years after Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped at knifepoint from her Salt Lake City home, the case may finally be coming to an end as prosecutors called the last of their rebuttal witnesses, a New York City-based forensic psychologist, who testified about an evaluation he did of the defendant, Brian David Mitchell.

Elizabeth Smart testified Wednesday that the street preacher accused of kidnapping her in 2002 frequently prayed that the teenager would fulfill her marital duty of having sex – something she said was “about the farthest thing” from her prayers.

Mitchell was a crude, vulgar, self-serving person who used religion to justify his actions, including her kidnapping and rape over nine months, she said, calling him a hypocrite.

Attorneys for Brian David Mitchell, who is accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart, say they will seek an insanity defense during their client’s upcoming trial in federal court scheduled to begin Nov. 1.

Mitchell is accused of kidnapping and raping Elizabeth Smart, who was 14 at the time, in 2002 and holding her captive for nine months.