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Elizabeth Smart, rescued 20 years ago, now teaches others to fight back:
Smart was kidnapped at age 14 from her bed in Salt Lake City and held captive and tortured for nine months, Cathy Free, Washington Post, March 10, 2023
Brian David Mitchell is competent to stand trial in the abduction of Elizabeth Smart despite his personality disorders, a judge ruled Monday.
In a 149-page decision, U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball said Mitchell can understand the charges against him and help his lawyers in his defense, the standard for mental competency.
Prosecutors on Monday dropped state charges against a woman in the 2002 abduction of Elizabeth Smart in exchange for a guilty plea related to the attempted kidnapping of Smart’s cousin.
Doctors at the Utah State Hospital said last fall that Barzee had responded to the treatment and was competent.
Atherton accepted that determination Monday but said Barzee remains mentally ill.
Street preacher Brian David Mitchell is purposely adopting a fake religious persona, does not suffer a mental illness and is competent to stand trial, according to federal prosecutors.
In December, a 10-day competency hearing was held for the man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting Elizabeth Smart in 2002. It was Mitchell’s third competency hearing overall, and his first in federal court.
Leslie Miles, a former employee of Utah State Hospital, took the witness stand during the second day of the competency hearing for Brian David Mitchell, 56, who faces federal charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines.
Mitchell was able to take care of himself and ask for things while in the hospital’s forensic unit but refused to participate in any treatments or therapies, Miles said.
A state court judge said Friday the Utah State Hospital has determined that the woman charged in the 2002 kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart is competent for trial.
The hospital’s finding — provided in a report three days ago to Judge Judith Atherton — was announced in Salt Lake City’s 3rd District Court. It could mean the case of Wanda Eileen Barzee is headed toward trial, although Atherton first must rule Barzee competent.
The American student Elizabeth Smart has, for the first time, described her nine-month kidnap ordeal after being snatched by a stranger from her bedroom in Salt Lake City seven years ago.
Asked by a prosecutor to describe Brian David Mitchell, the self-described prophet accused of holding her captive for nine months, Ms Smart replied: “Evil, wicked, manipulative, stinky, slimy, greedy, selfish, not spiritual, not religious, not close to God.”
A federal judge has ruled that Elizabeth Smart can testify in the upcoming mental competency hearing for her accused kidnapper.
In a ruling issued Monday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Dale A. Kimball denied a defense motion to bar Smart from testifying in the case of Brian David Mitchell.
In letters written to her mother, the woman charged in the 2002 kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart has sought forgiveness for any pain she has caused and says she expects to spend the rest of her life in prison.
Meanwhile her estranged husband will soon face another competency hearing.
Wand Barzee, 62, and her estranged husband, Brian David Mitchell, face criminal charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault for allegedly abducting Elizabeth Smart, then 14, from her home in Salt Lake City.
Wanda Barzee, 62, has fought the forced administration of anti-psychotic drugs, saying through her attorneys the medication is against her religion.