ELIZABETH SMART - 14 yo (2002) - Federal Heights UT

Elizabeth Smart is
preparing to testify for the first time about her 2002 abduction and
nine months of captivity, even as national and local news crews queue
up outside Salt Lake City's U.S. District Court this morning.
The 21-year-old Smart, who was 14 when she was taken from her bed
in the middle of the night, is testifying as part of a larger hearing
on whether Brian David Mitchell is mentally competent to stand trial in
her kidnapping. The self-proclaimed prophet, who allegedly wanted the
then-teen for a plural wife, has been diagnosed with a delusional
disorder.
A defense attorney said at a hearing last week that Smart should be
allowed to testify about the facts of her kidnapping but not offer
opinions about Mitchell's state of mind or what motivated his behavior.

A prosecutor, though, said Smart can provide important observations
about Mitchell, including "that what preoccupied him was sex."
U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball, who eventually will rule on
whether the prosecution can go forward, ruled Monday that Smart can
give her "lay observations" at Monday's hearing.
Smart's ordeal captured worldwide attention. The girl was taken
from her Federal Heights home at knife-point on June 5, 2002, and was
rescued on March 12, 2003. In between, there was a massive search for
Smart and a police investigation of hundreds of leads.
By the time Smart was found walking along State Street in Sandy with Mitchell and his wife, Wanda
Eileen Barzee, the reward for finding her totaled $295,000. The money
was divided among eight individuals, including two couples who called
police about a minute apart when they spotted the three.
Mitchell has refused to submit to any psychological evaluations or
diagnostic tests. He usually begins singing a Mormon hymn when brought
into a courtroom for a hearing and is taken into another room to view
the proceedings by closed-circuit television.

* * * *
The History of the Case
Brian
David Mitchell, 55, and his wife, Wanda Eileen Barzee, 63, are accused
of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart on June 5, 2002, from her Federal Heights
home. They were arrested in March 2003 while walking in Sandy with the
girl.A judge in the state's 3rd District Court has ruled
Mitchell cannot be forcibly medicated to try to restore his mental
competency; the same judge ruled Barzee could be forcibly medicated, a
process that began at the Utah State Hospital in May 2008.The
state court ruling led the U.S. Attorney's Office to begin a case
against the couple. A federal grand jury issued an indictment last year
charging Mitchell and Barzee with kidnapping and coercion of a minor
with intent to engage in sexual activity for allegedly taking Smart
from Utah to California. They face up to life in prison if convicted on
the kidnapping charge.Mitchell was ordered to undergo mental
competency examinations at a federal facility to determine if he is
competent to stand trial on the federal charges. On Nov. 30,
U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball will hear from both prosecution and
defense witnesses about whether Mitchell is able to understand the
charges against him and can assist in his defense. Smart's testimony is
being taken Thursday because she is leaving for a mission to Paris for
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Barzee has not
been arraigned yet in the federal kidnapping case. State charges of
kidnapping and sexual assault are still pending against her and
Mitchell.

For the first time since
her 2002 abduction and nine months of captivity, Elizabeth Smart
testified in a courtroom about her horrifying ordeal.
Smart, 21, took the stand in Salt Lake City's U.S. District Court
at 9 a.m. and described how Brian David Mitchell kidnapped her from her
Federal Heights bedroom in the middle of the night on June 5, 2002,
when she was 14.

She also described the brutal sexual assaults she was forced to
endure at the hands of Mitchell, who raped her three to four times a
day throughout her captivity.
Smart testified that Mitchell used religion as an excuse to justify
having sex with her. In the early days of her kidnapping, he kept her
leg bolted to a cable attached to two trees to keep her from escaping, she said.
Mitchell forced Smart to take drugs and alcohol to lower her
resistance to his sexual advances, she said. He showed her pornography
and told her she need to "be humble" to him, she said.
She said Mitchell once forced her to drink too much alcohol and she
became sick. He made her lay face down in her vomit for the entire
night so Smart would understand "the true state" she was in, she
testified.
"Anything I showed resistance or hesitation to, he would turn to me
and say, 'The Lord has commanded you to do this, you have to experience
the lowest form of humanity to experience the highest."

Smart said she tried to fight Mitchell's sexual attacks once, when
she bit him. He told her he would never have sex with her again and
that she would be "miserable" because of it, but he then continued to
rape her, Smart testified.
In earlier testimony, Smart recounted the night Mitchell broke into her bedroom between 2 and 3 a.m.
"He came into my room and held a knife to my throat and threatened
me with my life and my family's life to come with him," Smart said,
recounting the ordeal.
"He placed his hand on my chest. He then put the knife up to my
neck he told me to get up quietly and if I didn't then he would kill me
and my family."
Smart described how Mitchell --who was dressed in sweats, a
stocking cap and tennis shoes -- ordered her to put on some shoes. He
told her he was taking her hostage to hold her for ransom, Smart
testified.
With a knife held to her throat, Smart went with Mitchell as he
brought her to the mountains behind her home, she said. He forced her
to duck down behind some bushes along the way, fearful the two would be
caught by a passing police car as they crossed the street to head three
miles into the canyon, where Mitchell would ultimately hide her, she
said.
The two arrived at a camp where they met up with Mitchell's wife,
Wanda Eileen Barzee, Smart testified. Mitchell and Barzee then prepared
Smart for a marriage ceremony, she said.
"He took me inside where Wanda then tried to force me to bathe.
After arguing with her, she eventually just proceeded to wash my feet
and told me to change out of my pajamas into a robe type of garment.
And when I refused she said if I didn't she would have Brian Mitchell
come rip my pajamas off," Smart said. "I put the robe on in which he
came and performed a ceremony which was to marry me to him."
Following the ceremony, Mitchell raped her, Smart said.
Smart testified that during her captivity, Barzee became jealous of
Mitchell's lustful behavior toward her and asked that Mitchell set up a
rotation between the two, where he would rotate nightly to have sex
with each woman. Smart said that short period was the only time she got
a reprieve from Mitchell's sexual assaults; he often would find away to
rape her anyway on occasions he was "scheduled" to be with Barzee, she
said.
The rotation soon ended, however, and the three went to San Diego when winter began to arrive in Utah, Smart said.
Smart's testimony is part of a larger hearing on whether Mitchell
is mentally competent to stand trial in her kidnapping. The
self-proclaimed prophet, who allegedly wanted the then-teen for a
plural wife, has been diagnosed with a delusional disorder.
Smart described how Mitchell worked to manipulate people, including
a clerk at a Wild Oats grocery store who gave him free food and an LDS
family that Mitchell dined with. She said Mitchell planned to kidnap
yet another wife from the LDS family he met at church and had dinner
with, but those plans didn't progress.
Mitchell boasted of his previous sexual exploits with women, Smart said.
"He talked about how in high school he was one of the graduating
seniors and there was a girl who was younger and she was physically
mature for her age and he came up behind her and stuck his hand down
her shirt and walked away and nothing ever happened. And he talked
about his two previous marriages and how he had been accused with
molesting his second wife's youngest daughter and how nothing ever
happened how he was able to walk away from that," Smart testified.
She said she observed Mitchell singing hymns often --a tactic he
has used during court appearances, including Thursday's hearing, which
has resulted in judges removing him from the courtroom. Smart testified
she believes Mitchell uses singing to manipulate situations.
She said Mitchell told her he was "God's voice on Earth" and that he would "one day fight the anti-christ."
When U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman asked Smart which words she'd use
to describe Mitchell, she replied, "Evil, wicked, manipulative, sneaky,
slimy, selfish, greedy, not spiritual, not religious, not close to
God."
Court officials said Thursday that they had received coverage
requests from some 30 news organizations, among them leading national
and international print and television news networks.
A defense attorney said at a hearing last week that Smart should be
allowed to testify about the facts of her kidnapping but not offer
opinions about Mitchell's state of mind or what motivated his behavior.

A prosecutor, though, said Smart can provide important observations
about Mitchell, including "that what preoccupied him was sex."
U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball, who eventually will rule on
whether the prosecution can go forward, ruled Monday that Smart can
give her "lay observations" at Monday's hearing.
Smart's ordeal captured worldwide attention. The girl was taken in
2002 and was rescued on March 12, 2003. In between, there was a massive
search for Smart and a police investigation of hundreds of leads.
By the time Smart was found walking along State Street in Sandy
with Mitchell and Barzee, the reward for finding her totaled $295,000.
The money was divided among eight individuals, including two couples
who called police about a minute apart when they spotted the three.
Mitchell has refused to submit to any psychological evaluations or
diagnostic tests. He usually begins singing a Mormon hymn when brought
into a courtroom for a hearing and is taken into another room to view
the proceedings by closed-circuit television.

Elizabeth Smart
testified Thursday she was raped repeatedly each day after she was
abducted from her bedroom seven years ago and told she would be killed
if she yelled or tried to escape. She described Brian David Mitchell, her alleged kidnapper, as "evil, wicked, manipulative, stinky, slimy, selfish, not spiritual, not religious, not close to God."Smart testified in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City as part of a competency proceeding for the man charged in her 2002 kidnapping.Mitchell
has twice been found incompetent for trial in state court. Mitchell and
his estranged wife were found with Smart nine months after she
disappeared from her Salt Lake City home.

A judge
ruled earlier this week that testimony from Smart, now 21, is relevant
to the mental competency of Mitchell, who was removed from the
courtroom before Smart arrived and taken to a holding cell where he
could listen to the proceedings.Smart was poised and composed while testifying for just under two hours.She
was 14 when she was abducted from her Salt Lake City home at knifepoint
in the middle of the night. Shortly after her abduction, Smart said
Mitchell took her to a mountain camp and performed a ceremony she said
was intended to marry the two."After that, he proceeded to rape me," Smart said.She
said he held her captive with a cable attached to her leg that had a
10-foot reach. That line was attached to another cable strung between
two trees.Smart said Mitchell plied her with alcohol and drugs to lower her resistance."He
said that he would kill anybody that would come into the camp, or kill
me if I ever tried to escape or yell out," Smart testified.Smart said Mitchell was motivated by sex and used religion to get what he wanted.Mitchell's
defense attorneys had sought to limit Smart's testimony to her
experiences with Mitchell, without her opinions about his mental state.The
defense objected to the 39 so-called "lay witnesses" proposed by
prosecutors, including Mitchell's family, friends or workers at Utah
State Hospital, because they lacked the expertise to evaluate
competency.In a ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball
rejected the argument as it relates to Smart, saying her testimony may
help the court settle differences in the findings of experts who have
evaluated Mitchell.Experts have split opinions over Mitchell's
competency and have relied on statements from others - including Smart
- and past evaluations to prepare reports for the court. Kimball's
ruling said Mitchell has been uncooperative with evaluators and refused
to participate in diagnostic tests.In the state court system, Mitchell was twice found incompetent to stand trial.Smart
was rescued nine months after her abduction when a motorist spotted her
walking through a suburb with Mitchell and his estranged wife, Wanda
Eileen Barzee.Last year, Mitchell was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor.Once
an itinerant street preacher, Mitchell is said to have wanted Smart as
a polygamous wife and may have taken her to fulfill a religious
prophecy he laid out in a 27-page manifesto drafted in April 2002.

— Utah State
Hospital officials plan to update a state judge on the mental
competency of the woman charged in the 2002 kidnapping of Elizabeth
Smart.
Wanda Eileen Barzee was expected in a Salt Lake City
court for a hearing on Friday. Barzee has been receiving court-ordered
psychiatric treatment since May 2008 in an effort to restore her
competency.
The 63-year-old was twice deemed incompetent to stand trial.
Barzee and her estranged husband, Brian David Mitchell,
were arrested in March 2003 and charged with multiple felonies related
to the June 2002 kidnapping of then-14-year-old Smart in Salt Lake City.
If state hospital officials believe Barzee now meets the legal standard for competency, the case could be headed for a trial.

Elizabeth Smart wasn't the only child to suffer because of the actions of kidnappers Wanda Barzee and Brian David Mitchell.


Now
adults, four of Barzee's six children appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey
Show" on Tuesday and detailed a horrific pattern of abuse they say they
suffered at the hands of their mother, biological father and stepfather
Mitchell, a self-proclaimed prophet who became Barzee's second husband.

Barzee
pleaded guilty to kidnapping Smart, who was 14 when authorities say she
was abducted at knifepoint from her Salt Lake City home in June 2002.
She was found nine months later in the company of Mitchell and Barzee.
In hearings to determine whether Mitchell is competent to stand trial,
Smart has testified that he raped her repeatedly during her captivity.

"I think the media somewhat portrayed my mother as being a victim of
Brian David Mitchell, and I think one of the reasons I wanted to come
on the show is to expose her for the monster she is," Barzee's daughter
Andrea told Winfrey.

Among the show's revelations, the
offspring described how Barzee and her first husband routinely beat
them, deprived them of food for days at a time and often mentally
abused them.

"She would brainwash us relentlessly," Andrea said.
"We would be called up to her room, and she would sit there and drum
into us, 'If you weren't a part of this family, then the family would
be fine. And if you were dead, then ... ' "

Barzee would lock
the pantry and not let her children eat for days, they said. Her son
Derrick Thompson described taking a BB gun to hunt small animals in the
brush behind their Utah home. Whatever he could kill, he'd cook over an
open fire and eat. One of her daughters said she was so desperate she
ate dog food.

A homemaker and an organist at their Mormon
church, Barzee divorced her first husband in 1984. A year later she was
married to Mitchell, but the abuse didn't end, her children said.

Rhonda
McLeod, Barzee's eldest daughter, described first meeting Mitchell. "I
had a bad feeling about him," McLeod told Winfrey.

LouRee
Gaylor, Barzee's youngest child, described a dinner table scene when
she was 14 years old. When she asked her mother what was for supper,
she says Barzee responded, "Chicken," a strange smile on her face.

The
next day, the girl went out to feed her pet rabbit, Peaches, but the
animal's cage was empty. Where she asked where the rabbit was, Barzee
replied, "You had him for dinner last night," Gaylor said.

On Nov. 17, Barzee pleaded guilty to kidnapping and unlawful
transportation of a minor. She is in a mental hospital pending
sentencing, but has agreed to testify against Mitchell.

"She robbed us of our childhood," daughter Andrea said. "She robbed us of our innocence."

Poster's Note: For the time being I will leave this topic here in this forum. I'll wait to see what things may come to Mr. Mitchell before I move it to Adjudicated.
SALT LAKE CITY — 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.


Wanda Eileen Barzee pleaded guilty but mentally ill to one count of
conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping. The second-degree felony
stems from the July 24, 2002, attempted abduction of Smart's
15-year-old cousin — 50 days after Smart was taken from her Salt Lake
City home at age 14.

Sentencing in 3rd District Court is set for May 21.The plea helps resolve a nearly 8-year-old case that slowed when
Barzee was twice deemed incompetent to stand trial. Judge Judith
Atherton ordered Barzee to undergo forced treatments with
anti-psychotic medications. That process began in May 2008.

Last fall, doctors at the Utah State Hospital said Barzee had responded to the treatment and was considered competent.

Atherton accepted that determination Monday but said Barzee remains
mentally ill. Barzee's treatment, primarily for depression, is ongoing,
said her attorney, Scott Williams.

In November, Barzee, 64, pleaded guilty to federal charges of
kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines
for Smart's abduction. Sentencing in that case is scheduled for May 19.

Barzee could face up to 30 years in state and federal prison. As
part of both plea deals, she has agreed to cooperate with the
government in the pending state and federal cases against her estranged
husband, Brian David Mitchell.

Barzee was originally charged with six felonies in state court after
her 2003 arrest. One of those was related to the cousin's attempted
kidnapping.

Court papers say Barzee helped Mitchell plan to take the cousin to a
mountain campsite where Smart had been tethered on a 10-foot cable
since her own abduction.

Smart testified in federal court that she was taken from her bedroom
at knifepoint on the night of June 5, 2002, was forced into a
polygamous marriage with Mitchell, and endured repeated rapes and other
abuse. She was held captive for nine months.

On Monday, Salt Lake County Assistant District Attorney Alicia Cook
said she believed Smart's cousin Olivia Wright would have suffered the
same fate had the kidnapping attempt been successful. But it was
thwarted by clumsiness.

In statement to The Associated Press in 2003, prosecutors and
Olivia's father, Steven Wright, said a thin object poked through a cut
window screen knocked over a picture frame on the desk in front of the
window.

The clatter woke Jessica Wright, another of Smart's cousins, and
police were called. Prosecutors and family said the attempted
kidnapping was not aimed not at Jessica Wright, then 18, but at Olivia,
who was close to Smart and used to sleep in the bedroom where the
break-in occurred.

It was Smart who led Mitchell and Barzee to the Wright home, former Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocum said in 2003.

Mitchell also was deemed incompetent to stand trail in state court,
but a judge ruled against forced medications. In federal court, a judge
has yet to issue a decision after a 10-day competency hearing was held
late last year.

No one from the Smart or Wright families was in court Monday.

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge says the man charged in the 2002 kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart is competent to stand trial.U.S.
District Judge Dale Kimball ruled Monday that 56-year-old Brian David
Mitchell does not suffer from a mental disease or defect that harms his
ability to understand the proceedings against him.The ruling
follows a 10-day competency hearing held last year. Experts who
testified split in their opinions about Mitchell's competency.Mitchell's defense attorneys have argued that the former street preacher could not participate in his own defense.Mitchell was indicted in 2008 on charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines.Smart was 14 in 2002 when she was kidnapped from her home.

Seven years after Elizabeth Smart was found on a Sandy street, having been
missing since being taken from her Federal Heights home nine months before, a
federal judge on Friday scheduled a Nov. 1 trial date for Brian David Mitchell
in her abduction.
The trial is expected to take at least two weeks.
U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball also set dates for the filing of pretrial
motions in the case, which captured international attention. The judge ruled on
March 1 that the self-proclaimed prophet is mentally competent to stand trial.

Mitchell, 56, who is charged with kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a
minor, allegedly wanted to make the then-14-year-old Smart his plural wife.
Mitchell's defense team said they intend to raise an insanity defense, as
well as plan to file for a change of venue. A judge would choose the venue
within the states covered by the 10th Circuit: Utah, Colorado, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming.
"The notion is if a community is invested in a case it needs to be moved
somewhere else," defense attorney Robert Steele said.
The court will send perhaps up to 500 jury questionnaires through the mail
and pare down the potential jury pool based on those responses. Then 75 to 100
people could be brought in for individual questioning, attorneys said.
Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Eileen Barzee, 64, were arrested on March 12,
2003, while walking in Sandy with Smart and charged in the state's 3rd District Court with the 2002 kidnapping and other crimes.

After hearings, Judge Judith Atherton ruled that the two were mentally
incompetent to stand trial. Atherton also ruled Mitchell could not be forcibly
medicated to try to restore his mental competency but that Barzee could be, a
process that began at the Utah State Hospital in May 2008.
The state case against Mitchell and Barzee stalled over the competency issue,
leading the U.S. Attorney's Office to begin a case against the couple and a
federal grand jury issued an indictment in 2008.
Doctors at the State Hospital said last fall they believe Barzee is now
mentally competent. She pleaded guilty on Nov. 17 to the federal charges and
agreed to testify against Mitchell in exchange for a 15-year prison term.
On Feb. 8, Barzee pleaded guilty and mentally ill to a state charge of
conspiracy to kidnap Smart's cousin, a plea that could affect whether she spends
her sentence in a hospital or a prison. A sentencing hearing in 3rd District
Court on that charge is set for May 21.

Nearly eight years after Elizabeth Smart was snatched from her Salt
Lake City bedroom at knifepoint, the woman who pleaded guilty to the
2002 kidnapping is headed to prison.Wanda Eileen Barzee was
sentenced Friday to two terms of up to 15 years in prison in
back-to-back hearings in state and federal court."I know the
gravity of my crimes and how serious they are," Barzee, 64, said during
the federal hearing. "I'm just so sorry again for all the pain and
suffering I caused upon the Smart family."The terms will be
served concurrently, and Barzee will likely be held at the Federal
Medical Center, Carswell, in Fort Worth, Texas, where she can be treated
for mental illness.The sentencings bring to a close a seven-year
legal process for Barzee that was repeatedly delayed when she was twice
deemed incompetent to stand trial and rejected voluntary medication
because of her religious beliefs.In 2006, 3rd District Judge
Judith Atherton ordered Barzee forcibly medicated with anti-psychotic
medications. Last fall, doctors at Utah State Hospital said Barzee's
competency had been restored — a finding that prompted plea negotiations
with state and federal prosecutors.In November, Barzee pleaded
guilty to federal charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a
minor across state lines in Smart's abduction.In the state case,
kidnapping and sexual assault charges against Barzee were dropped in
exchange for a plea of guilty but mentally ill to a charge of conspiracy
in the attempted abduction of Smart's cousin, Olivia Wright, also in
2002.As part of those deals, Barzee has agreed to testify in
pending state and federal cases against her now-estranged husband, Brian
David Mitchell, in the kidnapping of Smart.Barzee will get
credit for the seven years she's already spent behind bars in her
federal case, U.S. District Court Judge Dale Kimball said Friday.
Kimball also ordered Barzee to five years probation upon her release —
at about 72 years old — and said she will have to register as a sex
offender.In the state case, Atherton did not award Barzee credit
for time served. After she completes her federal sentence, Utah's Board
of Pardons and Parole will decide if she must spend additional time in
state prison.Barzee's attorney, Scott Williams, said he believes
Barzee's "remorse at this point is sincere and that her sense of her
criminal responsibility is real."Smart was 14 when she was
kidnapped at knifepoint from her bedroom. She was found nine months
later, in March 2003, walking the streets of a Salt Lake City suburb
with Barzee and Mitchell.Smart is now 22 and serving a mission
for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Paris.Her
father Ed Smart said Elizabeth felt the 15-year federal prison term for
Barzee wasn't strong enough."I think the point here today is that
we don't want to see anyone hurt by (Barzee) again," Ed Smart said.
"But to have it come to an end ... it's been so many years."Elizabeth's
mother, Lois Smart, chastised Barzee during the federal court hearing
for being a mother herself who failed to protect a child."Wanda,
what you did to our family and to our girl Elizabeth was wrong," Lois
Smart said, turning to face Barzee. "It was wrong and it was evil."Lois
Smart said Barzee's actions brought suffering on everyone in the Smart
family."But more than that, Elizabeth suffered. She was tortured
and tormented," said Lois Smart, who had not previously spoken publicly.
"I hope that you'll be able to make peace with your maker."An
itinerant street preacher, Mitchell, 56, is scheduled for a federal
court trial beginning Nov. 1. A state case has been stalled because
Mitchell was deemed incompetent for trial. Atherton declined to order
forced medication in his case.At a federal court hearing last
year, Smart said she was taken from her home to a mountain campsite
where she was forced into a polygamous marriage with Mitchell and
endured repeated rapes and other abuse. She was held captive for nine
months.

Defense lawyers for the man charged in the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart say he can't get a
fair trial in Utah because widespread interest and pretrial publicity have tainted the jury pool.
At a hearing Thursday, attorneys for Brian David Mitchell will ask U.S.
District Judge Dale Kimball to move the trial, preferably to Colorado or
Missouri, where a survey found the public knows less and has fewer
prejudices about the case.
Smart was 14 in 2002 when she was taken from her home at knifepoint. The case
drew national headlines during the search and recovery of Smart in Utah
and from the local and national efforts to improve child safety that followed.
"This is a case that has been seared into the mind of the community in such a way that this
court cannot guarantee its ability to empanel a fair and impartial
jury," defense attorneys wrote in court papers.
An April survey by the Survey Research Center at the University of
Houston said 92 percent of Utah respondents said they believed Mitchell
was either definitely or probably guilty of kidnapping Smart.
The figure was about 34 percent higher than results in Colorado or Kansas,
according to survey designer Kent L. Tedin, a Houston professor who
conducted similar surveys during the federal prosecution of Oklahoma
City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
"The data clearly support the need for a change of venue," Tedin wrote in defense court filings.
Tedin's survey polled about 300 Utahans and roughly 250 residents in both
Missouri and Kansas, court papers say. The survey has a margin of error of 6.2 percent.
Kimball is not expected to rule on the venue issue Thursday
Federal prosecutors oppose a venue change, contending a jury pool could be
drawn from across the state, including communities some 300 miles from
Salt Lake City, where the crime occurred.
"Given this large, diverse pool of potential jurors, the suggestion that 12
impartial individuals could not be empaneled is hard to sustain,"
Assistant U.S. Attorney Diana Hagen wrote in court papers.
Hagen also said much of the pretrial publicity actually favored Mitchell
because it referenced questions about his mental competency. Defense
attorneys have said they will pursue an insanity defense.
In a parallel state proceeding, Mitchell has been diagnosed with a
delusional disorder and was twice deemed incompetent for trial. In
March, after a competency hearing, Kimball ruled Mitchell was competent to stand trial.
Mitchell, 56, is facing federal charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines.
Smart was missing for nine months and found in March 2004 walking on a
suburban Salt Lake City street with Mitchell and his now-estranged wife
Wanda Eileen Barzee. She has pleaded guilty in the case.
Smart is now 22 and serving a religious mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Paris.

Ed Smart and Ahmad Rivazfar biked through Salt Lake and Utah counties to the state Capitol on Friday. But the trip, Smart said, wasn't about "two old goats in spandex" who decided to take a scenic tour of Utah. Rather, the two men, each fathers of daughters who were kidnapped and assaulted, hoped to raise awareness to several pieces of legislation aimed at protecting children from predators. Smart is the father of Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped and held hostage for nine months starting in 2002. Rivazfar, from Rochester, N.Y., is the father of six children. In 1988, the boyfriend of his ex-wife kidnapped his two daughters, drove to a remote area, raped the girls, slit their throats and left them for dead. Sayeh, then 8, survived. Sara, 6, did not. Rivazfar used that tragic experience to form The Surviving Parents Coalition, a nonprofit organization that lobbies for funding and legislation to protect children from abduction and sexual abuse. About two years ago, during a strategic planning meeting for his group, Rivazfar, who had biked in several charity events before, brought up the idea of making a bicycle trek across the U.S. "Everyone thought I was crazy," he said. "Ed stood up, however, and said, 'I'll ride with you.' " Smart and Rivazfar mapped out a 3,500-mile journey from Rochester to Los Angeles. The "Ride for Their Lives" campaign began Aug. 21 and is scheduled to end Sept. 22. Salt Lake City was the 17th stop of the 26-city tour. The cyclists started their ride Friday in Springville, where Smart and Rivazfar spoke to students at Cherry Creek Elementary. When it was time to start pedaling, a group of first- and third-graders gathered outside the school and chanted "Not One More Child," as Smart and the others rode off. Smart has spoken to several school groups during his journey. It's something, he said, that "puts a smile on your face" as he talks to them about safety and empowering them so they know that "no one has the right to hurt you." Smart's daughter Mary Katherine, 18, and son Charles 24, joined their father and Rivazfar, along with South Salt Lake Police Chief Chris Snyder and Utah Attorney General's Office spokesman Paul Murphy, coordinator of the state's Amber Alert system. Both Ed Smart and Rivazfar wore buttons on their bike jerseys of pictures of people who have been murdered or are still missing. One of Smart's buttons was of Susan Powell, the West Valley City mother who has been missing for nine months.The group was joined by other surviving parents at the Capitol on Friday afternoon, including Chuck Cox, Powell's father, and Elaine Runyan-Simmons, the mother of 3-year-old Rachael Runyan, who was kidnapped from a park in Sunset in 1982 and killed. No one has ever been arrested for that crime. Utah's early version of the Amber Alert was named the Rachael Alert in honor of Runyan. "We're riding from east to west," Smart said. "We're riding against the wind, just like children have significant headwinds they have to meet in their lives." Children make up only 30 percent of the population, Rivazfar noted, "but they are 100 percent our future." Rivazfar said the cross-country trek has been a great way for him to meet people who are just as passionate about protecting children as he and Smart. There are four main issues to which Smart hopes the trip will raise awareness:
To lobby for a database of DNA in each state for all people arrested on felonies. In March, the Utah Legislature approved a bill that would allow DNA to be collected from all people arrested for violent felonies, instead of after conviction. The DNA would not be processed, however, until a "probable cause" has been proven.
The Protect Our Children Act of 2008, giving investigators in child exploitation cases more resources.
The Adam Walsh Act, named after the kidnapped and killed son of "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh, which would establish national standards for a sex offender registry and notification system.
Not ONE More Child, a child safety initiative that educates and empowers children. Smart said he hoped people would rally around the Adam Walsh Act like they did with the Amber Alert system. "It's a more uniform way of holding sex offenders accountable," Smart said. "Only those that are significant risks to the public should be on there. You diminish value of registry when you cloud it with any number of people that can be put on there." Smart had high praise for the work done by Utah's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and hoped the Protect Our Children Act would give the task force even more resources. To educate and empower children, Smart has been a longtime advocate of radKIDS, a group dedicated to empowering local communities on how to keep kids safe. Smart said he has had people come up to him in the past and question whether any of these laws would have prevented his daughter from being kidnapped, if they had been in place. "There are no guarantees in life. But does that mean we don't do anything?" Smart said. "We need to do something before we find ourselves facing these problems." More information about the cross-country bike ride can be found at www.ridefortheirlives.com and on the Ride for Their Lives Facebook page.

Elizabeth Smart’s mother, Lois Smart, could take the stand Thursday afternoon as the government’s first witness against Brian David Mitchell, who is accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting Elizabeth Smart in 2002.
Lois Smart will take the stand following final jury selection and opening statements by attorneys in U.S. District Court, according to a family member.
She will be followed by 18-year-old Mary Katherine Smart, who was in the same bedroom when her sister was taken. Elizabeth Smart, who turned 23 on Wednesday, will take the stand third, the family member told The Tribune.
Once the Smarts have testified, they could remain in the courtroom and watch the four-week trial play out. Putting the Smarts on first also allows prosecutors to present their evidence in a logical manner.
It was Lois Smart who hired Mitchell in November 2001 to do odd jobs at the Smart’s Federal Heights home for an afternoon. And it was at that time, investigators believe, that the homeless street preacher who called himself Immanuel became obsessed with making Elizabeth Smart a plural wife.
Mary Katherine Smart, who was then 9 years old, is expected to tell how she feigned sleep as a man entered their bedroom in the early hours of June 5, 2002, and abducted the then 14-year-old at knifepoint.
Elizabeth Smart will then testify about her nine months of captivity in the clutches of Mitchell, 57, and his wife, Wanda Eileen Barzee, 64.
Her ordeal, as outlined during Mitchell’s 2009 competency hearing, included being tethered in the couple’s camp in the foothills above her home, a trip to Southern California, and being raped on a daily basis by Mitchell. She was found on March 12, 2003, after being spotted with Mitchell and Barzee on State Street in Sandy.
Elizabeth Smart, who has been serving an LDS Church mission in France, has temporarily returned home for the trial.
A Smart family member said Wednesday, “We are just celebrating [Elizabeth’s birthday]. We went out for a bike ride today.”
Asked if the birthday excitement had been dampened by the impending trial, the family member said Elizabeth “seems to be having a good time.”
On Wednesday, Judge Dale Kimball finished selecting a pool of 32 prospective jurors. On Thursday, the prosecution and defense will select 12 jurors and two alternates to hear the case.
After the pool of 32 was chosen, the defense restated its belief that an unbiased jury was not to be found in Utah due to intense publicity.
But Kimball again denied the request to halt the trial while the defense again petitions the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to move the trial to another state.
Defense attorney Parker Douglas argued Wednesday that individual questioning of jurors during the past three days showed that nearly every person had already concluded Mitchell is guilty.
Of the 47 people questioned, the defense objected to all but the three who said they knew very little about the case. Two lived outside of Utah at the time.
But Kimball noted that all 32 jurors said they would rely only on trial evidence. He said it was an “impossible standard” to expect jurors to be completely ignorant of widespread news coverage.
Wednesday’s court session began, once again, with Mitchell singing quietly, eyes closed, at the defense table as a fresh group of prospective jurors were sworn in.
Minutes earlier, however, Mitchell had stopped singing to exchange a few words with defense attorney Robert Steele. Mitchell also craned his head around to see who was in court.
The first juror questioned Wednesday said he believed Mitchell “was very tricky and out of his mind.”
The juror, who was retained, added that to “steal someone, that person’s got to be pretty smart to get away with it.”
Another juror who stayed in the pool said he was “angry” over Elizabeth’s kidnapping at the time.
A prospective juror with an undergraduate degree in psychology said of Mitchell’s singing, “I’m wondering if he was really smart and trying to avoid [the courtroom] or if he has some sort of mental problem.”
The juror did not know much about the case and wondered if his recollections had become confused with the plot of “The Green Mile,” in which two young girls are taken from their bedroom and raped and murdered.
Both the prosecution and defense thought he should be dismissed.
Another man in the final pool, who said he held a leadership position in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was asked if it would offend him that Mitchell claimed to be “called of God” and claimed to be a prophet.
“It wouldn’t offend me, but it would make me feel that there was something mentally deranged there,” he responded.

Elizabeth Smart relived what she called "my nine months in hell" on Tuesday, describing details of her life as a captive plural wife before ending a second day on the witness stand with a dramatic account of how her ordeal ended. She calmly told jurors of being raped and degraded by self-professed prophet Brian David Mitchell at crude camps in the mountains above Salt City, Utah, and outside San Diego, California. She said she was forced to wear robes and a veil, was ordered not to speak to anyone, and was subjected to daily rapes by a man who claimed to be a prophet of God and referred to his private parts as "Immanuel's Pride." She described revelations he claimed to have received: In one, he was to take seven wives, and then multiply that number seven times. In another, he said God told him to drink as much as he wanted. Smart's captivity ended in Sandy, Utah, on March 12, 2003, when she was stopped with Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, outside a Wal-Mart store. "Several cop cars drove up by us," she said, and the three were separated. Mitchell told police they were traveling preachers and that Smart was his daughter, Augustine Marshall. She went along with the ruse because she was afraid, Smart said, but police weren't buying their story. "They started asking me if I was Elizabeth Smart, if I knew that my parents were looking for me and very worried," she said, looking directly at the jurors. Smart said she was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car. At first, she said, she thought she had done something wrong. She still did not tell officers who she was because, she said, she believed Mitchell would make good on his threats to kill her and her family if she did.Then, she said in a soft voice, it began to dawn on her: "This is it. I'm done. This is it ... This is over." At the police station, she took off the disguise she wore -- a gray wig and sunglasses -- and finally admitted she was, indeed, Elizabeth Smart. Her father, Ed Smart, soon arrived. "How did you feel?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Felice Viti asked. "I was so happy," came Smart's barely audible reply as court ended for the day. Smart, who turned 23 last week, stepped off the witness stand and walked over to her parents, who hugged her. Mitchell, 57, is on trial in federal court here, charged with kidnapping and taking a minor across state lines for sex. If convicted, he faces life in prison. His defense attorneys do not dispute what happened, but why. They say Mitchell was insane and cannot be held criminally responsible for his actions. Although Mitchell claimed to be a prophet who received revelations directly from God and was destined for celestial glory, many of the details of his life, as described by Smart, were earthly and banal. He and Barzee squabbled, over her jealousy of Smart and his drinking. He had a taste for pornography and boasted about his sexual prowess and his ability to outsmart other people. When he panhandled, he often was scathing in his criticism of the people who gave him money, Smart said. She appeared weary at times as she told the story of the experience that abruptly ended her childhood and left her feeling "marked." She was 14 when she was snatched from her bed at knifepoint early on June 5, 2002. She was taken to a makeshift camp in the mountains above her home and "sealed" in marriage to Mitchell in a ceremony he performed himself, with Barzee standing by. Smart turned 15 in captivity. She said Mitchell bought her a candy bar to celebrate the occasion. He then raped her in his tent, which he called "Immanuel's Altar," she said. She was forced to smoke and drink, she said, and was shown pornography. In Lakeview, California, she said, she and Barzee went a week without food while Mitchell was in jail. They grew so weak they could barely walk the five feet to the bucket they used as a toilet. Smart told the jury about other, failed kidnapping attempts as Mitchell searched for child brides to "plunder," as he put it. One involved her cousin, and another the 12-year-old daughter of a Mormon church leader in California. Mitchell later said God didn't believe they were ready to "receive" another wife, Smart testified. There also were close calls that, had Smart been identified, would have brought her home earlier. Earlier in the day, she testified about an encounter with a police detective at the public library in Salt Lake City during the fall of 2002: She, Mitchell and Barzee were there to look up information about San Diego because Mitchell said he had received a revelation to look for a wife there. "The man introduced himself as a homicide detective. He wanted me to remove the veil so he could see my face," said Smart. She recalled Barzee's hand clenching her leg and interpreted it as a warning not to say or do anything. Mitchell returned from the men's room and stood between Smart and the detective, who told them police had received some calls, and that he was looking for Elizabeth Smart, she said. But Mitchell told him that the girl was his daughter and that their religion dictates that only her husband can see her face. The detective left, Smart said, and "I felt like hope was walking out the door." "I was so mad at myself that I didn't say anything," she said. "I was mad at myself for not taking the chance. I felt like it was so close. I felt terrible that the detective could just walk away." Afterward, she said, Mitchell made her wear a veil covering her eyes, telling her "the world wasn't ready for the light that was in my eyes." The encounter with the police officer also hastened his efforts to travel to San Diego. Months later, as they hitch-hiked back to Utah, there was a second encounter with a police officer, this time in a fast-food restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada. But that officer was searching for another missing child, a little boy. Smart said Mitchell sought to destroy her ties with the past and create a new identity for her as the bride who would shape his destiny to destroy the Antichrist and help usher the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. He renamed her "Shiridashi," the name given the wife of Isaiah's son in the Bible. She was ordered to destroy the red silk pajamas she wore on the night she was abducted. She explained that Mitchell said "the time had come that I needed to sever all ties with the world, and that meant my family as well." She said he let her choose the method, and she chose to burn them. Mitchell also took her tennis shoes away, she said. A small piece of the sole had begun to peel off one of the shoes, Smart testified, and she ripped it off and kept it. She also retrieved a safety pin that he had used to fasten her pajama top and kept it. "I didn't want to let go of my family, of my life," Smart said.
She returns to the witness stand for a third day on Wednesday.

By Sheena McFarland
and Aaron Falk
The Salt Lake Tribune Published Nov 9, 2010 12:08PM
Updated 3 hours agoUpdated Nov 9, 2010 07:49PM

To read part one of Elizabeth Smart’s testimony on Nov. 8, click here: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50632966-76/smart-viti-yes-defendant.html.csp
Elizabeth Smart continued testifying about her 2002 kidnapping Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.
Smart began testifying Monday about her ordeal at the hands of Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee. She described how she was taken from her home in the middle of the night, forced to a campsite in the foothills above her home and held captive and raped repeatedly for several weeks.
The Tribune is continuing to produce its own transcript of the testimony via its reporters at the courthouse. This is a complete account of Tuesday’s testimony. Smart will again take the stand on Wednesday.
WARNING: The testimony contains graphic language, including curse words and explicit depictions of sexual abuse.

Brian David Mitchell enters the courtroom singing the hymn of “Reverently, Quietly” but with different words. He then begins singing Jesus Once of Humble Birth.
Judge: Good morning everyone, we’re here for continuation of the trial. We’ll get the jury and continue Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, thank you for being back promptly, it’s good to see you. Mr. Mitchell, you have a constitutional right to stay, but if you continue to sing or disrupt the proceedings you will be removed. [Mitchell continues to sing and is escorted out of the courtroom into a room with an audio/video feed of the proceedings.] You can resume the stand Ms. Smart, you’re still under oath. Mr. Viti, as soon as we’re advised that Mr. Mitchell is in the room, you can begin.
Viti: Good morning, Ms. Smart. Judge, may Special Agent LaRoe approach the witness stand?
Judge: Yes.
Viti: Ms. Smart I’ll ask you to look at government exhibit 31-D as in David. Do you recognize it?
LaRoe: Yes.
Viti: What do you recognize?
LaRoe: It was part of the cable system that wrapped around the tree.
Viti: How do you recognize it?
LaRoe: Because I can see where the cable is dirty from being wrapped around the tree, and it’s a little bit egg-shaped because of pulling on one of the sides of it.
Viti: Do you recognize that silver circle around that tree, Ms. Smart?
Smart: Yes.
Viti: Is that the same cable you’re holding? (Smart is holding exhibit 31-D)
Smart: Yes.
Viti: Thank you. Ms. Smart, where did the defendant keep the bolt cutters we saw yesterday?
Smart: They were in a bucket far out of my reach in the underground house he was digging out.
Viti: The cable system, did it not allow you to reach the bolt cutters?
Smart: Yes.
Viti: When the defendant placed the cable around your ankle, were the other components of the cable system already in place?
Smart: Yes.
Viti: Did there come a time when you were held in the upper camp where the defendant gave you a name?
Smart: Yes.
Viti: What name?
Smart: Shear-Jashub.
Viti: Did he tell you why?
Smart: Yes.
Viti: Why?
Smart: It was out of the book of Isaiah, the son of Isaiah was named Shear-Jashub.
Viti: Did he tell you what it meant?
Smart: Yeah.
Viti: What?
Smart: It meant “the remnant will return.”
Viti: Was there a time you chose another name?
Smart: Yes.
Viti: Explain.
Smart: Yes. I asked the defendant if I had to be called that name and he said he would allow me choose a middle name that I could be called for a time. However, I could not be Elizabeth or Ann, and it (the name) had to be out of the Bible.
Viti: And did you choose a name?
Smart: Yes.
Viti: What did you choose?
Smart: I chose Esther.
Viti: Did you ever speak to the defendant about your parents?
Smart: Yes.
Viti: What types of things would you discuss?
Smart: How much I loved them and how much they meant to me.
Viti: How did he react?


Story continues at:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50639245-76/smart-viti-yes-cable.html.csp

A federal jury has reached a verdict in the 2002 kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart.
The verdict in the case of Brian David Mitchell will be read Friday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.
The jury started deliberating just after 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
The 57-year-old street preacher is on trial for taking Smart from her Utah home at knife point and holding her captive for nine months when she was 14. He is charged with kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines for the purposes of illegal sex.
Mitchell's attorney doesn't dispute the facts but says his client's actions were colored by delusional beliefs. He has asked the jury to find Mitchell not guilty by reason of insanity and send him to a prison mental hospital.

A federal jury in Utah on Friday convicted an itinerant street preacher, Brian D. Mitchell, in the 2002 abduction of Elizabeth Smart, disregarding defense claims that he was insane.


Colin E. Braley/Associated Press


Brian D. Mitchell was convicted in the 2002 kidnapping.

Ms. Smart was taken when she was 14 from her home in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Salt Lake City and held for nine months. The jury found Mr. Mitchell guilty of kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity. The case galvanized parental nightmares nationwide, but subsequently underscored the power of human resilience with the recovery and return to life that Ms. Smart appears to have made. The detailed description of the captivity at a mental competency hearing last year for Mr. Mitchell, and again last month in the trial itself — how she was repeatedly raped, forced to drink alcohol against the teachings of her Mormon faith and sometimes kept chained — was given even greater poignancy by her aura of mental toughness. She had returned to Utah from a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to testify. “I hope that not only is this an example that justice can be served in America, but that it is possible to move on after something terrible has happened,” Ms. Smart said after the verdict was read, according to The Associated Press. To a great extent the trial was not about guilt or innocence but Mr. Mitchell’s mental state. His lawyers did not contest the facts of his actions, but instead asked the jury to find him not guilty for reasons of mental illness — that he is a delusional man who believed he was acting under God’s instruction. Prosecutors told the jury that Mr. Mitchell’s professed religious zealotry was simply a front for his violent sexual impulses. His estranged wife, Wanda E. Barzee, had also been charged in the case, but she pleaded guilty but mentally ill to conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping in another case — an attempted abduction also in 2002. She then cooperated with prosecutors and testified against Mr. Mitchell at his trial, saying she knew he was a manipulator and a liar. Mr. Mitchell, The A.P. said, could receive up to life in prison when he is sentenced on May 25.

Elizabeth Smart speaks out on Mitchell's sentencing

9:17 p.m. MDT, May 18, 2011
SALT LAKE CITY—

Elizabeth Smart spoke out about her abductor saying she plans to speak directly to Brian David Mitchell during his sentencing.
Smart decided to speak with members of the press a day after Brian David Mitchell and his legal defense proposed a lighter sentence.
Mitchell's attorneys say that Smart came away from her traumatic abduction with no significant psychological damage and used that as reasoning to persuade the judge against a life sentence for Mitchell.
FOX 13 spoke with Smart Wednesday and got her reaction of what will become of the man who was found guilty of abducting, raping and keeping her captive over a nine-month period.
When asked whether if she will be able to look him in the eye she responded saying it will be a question if Mitchell can look her in the eye.
Smart says it is not up to her to decide whether Mitchell’s life sentence is just.
“When it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter what I think, it matters what the judge thinks. And so I can only hope and pray that the right thing will happen," Smart said. “Whether he gets his just punishment here, it will come one day,”
The defense is still pushing for a decision to have Mitchell serve time in a mental health facility. Smart says she leaves this choice up to the judge and hopes that "right thing will happen."
Elizabeth Smart was 14 when she was taken from her bedroom at knifepoint in 2002 and held captive by Mitchell, a homeless street preacher, and his wife, Wanda Eileen Barzee, for nine months. Mitchell forced her to "marry" him in a polygamous union.
Smart recently came back from France after completing a mission for the LDS Church.

http://www.fox13now.com/news/local/kstu-elizabeth-smart-speaks-out-on-mitchells-sentencing-20110518,0,2427982.story

Defense says Smart not psychologically damaged



8:54 a.m. MDT, May 18, 2011
SALT LAKE CITY—

Lawyers for convicted kidnapper Brian David Mitchell claim Elizabeth Smart is a "survivor" who was not significantly damaged psychologically by her abduction. They make the claim in a new federal court filing, in an effort to persuade a judge to give Mitchell a lighter sentence.
In the filing, they use some of Elizabeth Smart's words to bolster their case. Defense attorneys were objecting to a pre-sentence report prepared for Mitchell prior to his sentencing next week. The report was prepared by the United States Probation Office.
"Counsel does not agree that U.S.S.G 5K2.3, Extreme Psychological Injury [to the victim], is applicable to this case, since it's application is directly contradicted by the testimony of Ms. Smart and argumented by the government, who vigorously argued that Ms. Smart is a 'survivor' who has not been psychologically injured more than other victims of the offenses at issue," the attorneys wrote.
In an interview with Fox 13, Mitchell's defense attorney, Robert Steele, said that he was making a legal argument for the judge to consider other factors beyond the psychological impact to Elizabeth Smart.
"Even though there is extreme conduct on my client's part, Ms. Smart overcame it," Steele said. "Survived it. Triumphed over it. These are all words used by her and the government."
But Steele said he is focusing on his client's conduct and what factors the judge must consider before he is sentenced. Mitchell faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced. Defense attorneys are seeking to have him detained in a federal mental facility rather than prison.
"There was psychological impact on Ms. Smart," Steele told Fox 13. "There is no doubt about that. In a legal sense, the story is not the extreme psychological injury. The story is her overcoming the extreme conduct of my client."
Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart, said it was "outrageous" but acknowledged it was a legal maneuver on the defense's part.
"You just shake your head and wonder 'What in the world?' " Smart told Fox 13. "What was the psychological damage that was there? Certainly, he had her for nine months as a captive, basically under psychological manipulation."
At age 14, Elizabeth Smart was snatched from her bedroom at knifepoint in 2002. She was held captive by Mitchell, a homeless street preacher, and his wife, Wanda Barzee, for nine months. Mitchell forced her to "marry" him in a polygamous union.
Ed Smart said his daughter is indeed a "survivor." She has returned from an LDS mission to France, is completing her college degree and is planning to testify at Mitchell's sentencing. She has also launched "The Elizabeth Smart Foundation," a non-profit that will help victims of child abuse and crime.
"I thank the Lord that Elizabeth is doing so well and that she's able to move beyond this," Smart said. "But the bottom line comes down to, Mitchell has a significant problem. I truly believe that if he got out again, that he would do the same thing."

http://www.fox13now.com/news/local/kstu-elizabeth-smart-defense-smart-not-psychologically-damaged-20110517,0,5031830.story

Elizabeth Smart will speak directly to Brian David Mitchell today at his sentencing, almost nine years after she was kidnapped, raped and held captive.

On
Dec. 10, a federal jury convicted Mitchell, 57, a former street
preacher, of kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines for
the purpose of illegal sex. He faces a possible life sentence in prison
today at the hearing scheduled for 2:30 p.m.It is not clear what exactly Smart will say to Mitchell. Last week
she spoke to FOX 13 one day after defense attorneys proposed a lighter
sentence.Smart says it is not up to her to decide whether a life sentence for Mitchell will be just.“When
it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter what I think, it matters what
the judge thinks. And so I can only hope and pray that the right thing
will happen," Smart said. “Whether he gets his just punishment here, it
will come one day."Defense attorneys claim Smart is a "survivor"
who was not significantly damaged psychologically by her abduction.
They are seeking to have Mitchell detained in a federal mental facility
rather than prison."There was psychological impact on Ms. Smart,"
Steele told Fox 13. "There is no doubt about that. In a legal sense,
the story is not the extreme psychological injury. The story is her
overcoming the extreme conduct of my client."The prosecution has asked for the maximum sentence of life in prison.U.S. District Court Judge Dale Kimball will decide Mitchell's fate this afternoon at the sentencing.At
age 14, Elizabeth Smart was snatched from her bedroom at knifepoint in
2002. She was held captive by Mitchell, a homeless street preacher,
and his wife, Wanda Barzee, for nine months. Mitchell forced her to "marry" him in a polygamous union.Ed
Smart said his daughter is indeed a "survivor." She has returned from
an LDS mission to France, is completing her college degree and is
planning to testify at Mitchell's sentencing. She has also launched "The
Elizabeth Smart Foundation," a non-profit that will help victims of
child abuse and crime."I thank the Lord that Elizabeth is doing
so well and that she's able to move beyond this," Smart said. "But the
bottom line comes down to, Mitchell has a significant problem. I truly
believe that if he got out again, that he would do the same thing."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/kstu-elizabeth-smart-elizabeth-smart-to-speak-today-at-mitchells-sentencing-20110525,0,58591.story

Nearly nine years after being kidnapped and held in a state of sexual
slavery she describes as "my nine months of hell", Elizabeth Smart
addressed her former captor face-to-face in a packed Salt Lake City
courtroom, just moments before he was sentenced to life in prison.
Brian David Mitchell, the homeless street preacher convicted of
kidnapping Smart, sang a hymn and gently rocked in his chair as
Elizabeth's father Ed and then Elizabeth herself took turns addressing
him.
"I hope at some time in your life you find what you have done is wrong,"
said Ed Smart. "Whether during your time on earth or in eternity,
you're going to have to face the guilt."
Next, Elizabeth slowly walked to a podium to pick up a microphone before
calmly turning to face Mitchell, who continued singing. It was the
first time the 23-year-old has directly addressed Mitchell, who did not
appear to look at her as she spoke.
"I don't have very much to say to you," Elizabeth Smart began. "I know
exactly what you did. I know that you know what you did was wrong. You
did it with a full knowledge. I also want you to know that I have a
wonderful life now."
"You took away nine months of my life that can never be returned," she
continued. "But in this life or next, you will have to be held
responsible for those actions, and I hope you are ready for when that
time comes."
Addressing reporters outside the courthouse after the hearing, Elizabeth appeared relieved.
"Today is the ending of a long chapter and the very beginning of a new chapter," she said, her father standing by her sid.
Smart said she recently completed a mission for the Mormon church and
plans to continue working as a child advocate to help stop and prevent
kidnapping and sexual abuse.
Before Wednesday's sentencing hearing got underway, Elizabeth sat with
her parents, brothers and sisters in the front row of the packed
courtroom. She smiled and seemed in good spirits.
When Mitchell was brought into the courtroom wearing a tan prison
jumpsuit, handcuffs and shackles, Smart sat stone-faced, staring
straight ahead.
Mitchell began singing as soon as he walked in, providing a bizarre
background soundtrack for the remainder of the proceedings until he was
led out.
The sentence of life in prison was handed down by U.S. District Court
Judge Dale Kimball. Before sentencing, Kimball asked Mitchell if he had
anything to say. Mitchell continued singing and did not answer.
Today's proceedings are part of a final chapter in a story that began in
the early morning hours of June 5, 2002, when a 14-year old Smart was
kidnapped at knifepoint from her family's Salt Lake City home.
During the four-week federal trial last fall, Smart testified that she
endured "nine months of hell" that started when Mitchell forced her to
become one of his wives. She said she was raped and sexually assaulted
almost daily and made to smoke marijuana, drink alcohol and watch
pornography.
Smart said she was also tethered to a tree and told she'd be killed if she tried to escape.
Smart testified that she once came agonizingly close to being rescued
when a Salt Lake City police detective saw her at a library with
Mitchell and his now-estranged wife Wanda Barzee.
Smart was wearing a veil hiding her face. When the detective asked her
to raise the veil, Mitchell objected on religious grounds. The
detective eventually gave up and left.
"I felt like hope was walking out the door," Smart testified. "I was
mad at myself that I didn't say anything. I was mad at myself for just
not taking the chance, that I just felt like I was so close, and I felt
terrible. I felt terrible that the detective hadn't pushed harder, that
he had just walked away."
Smart's physical ordeal ended on March 12, 2003, when she was spotted
walking down a Salt Lake City street with Mitchell and Barzee.
Barzee eventually pleaded guilty to her role in the kidnapping and in May 2010 was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The case dragged on in state courts for years amid legal fights over Mitchell's mental competency.
He was often removed from courtroom proceedings for singing hymns or screaming at judges.

During his federal trial last fall, his attorneys argued Mitchell was
not guilty by reason of insanity. A jury rejected that argument and in
December found him guilty.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/elizabeth-smart-confronts-abductor-packed-courtroom/story?id=13689084&page=2

Kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart is heading in front of the news cameras again .
Smart, who was abducted in 2002 when she was 14 years old from her
Utah home before being found nine months later, is signing on with ABC
News as an expert in missing persons and child abduction cases.
The deal, first reported Wednesday night, may have been in the works for a long time.
"This is definitely not about looking backward and telling her story,
which has been well told and retold," ABC spokeswoman Julie Townsend
told the Daily Beast, which broke the story.
Smart, 23, is expected to appear on camera within the next few weeks,
Townsend said. She will appear when there are missing children cases in
the news.
A family spokesman said that Smart wants to use her new on-air position to create awareness about missing kids.
The new role comes months after Smart's terrifying kidnapping case was closed.
In December, Brian David Mitchell was convicted of kidnapping and
taking Smart across state lines for the purpose of illegal sexual
activity.
He was sentenced to life without parole.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/07/07/2011-07-07_kidnapping_victim_elizabeth_smart_to_be_special_correspondent_for_abc_news.html#ixzz1RRt4ag2D

ABC News contributor Elizabeth Smart says part of the reason she took
a job with the network is because she credits media outlets with helping to save her life.
In an interview after meeting with
lawmakers to push for reinstated funding for the Internet Crimes Against
Children Task Force, Smart said when it comes to missing-persons cases,
“I think media plays such a key role. I know in my case I might not be
here today if the media hadn’t kept my story alive.”
In 2002, when she was 14 years old, Smart was abducted from her Utah
home and held for nine months by her kidnapper. Smart calls those months
“the worst of my life.”ABC confirmed in early July that it
was hiring Smart, now 23 and a student at Brigham Young University, to
work as a contributor to its various news programs. She made her on-air
debut on “Good Morning America” two weeks ago. Smart told ITK “there
were a number of many different options” — not just from ABC, but from several outlets.
Some critics blasted ABC News. A Salon.com
headline stated, “Elizabeth Smart: ABC’s new victim correspondent,”
while a writer for The Boston Globe declared, “Her name may be smart, but she is hardly an expert.”
Smart, who says she doesn’t consider herself a journalist, reveals that she “feels bad” for critics who feel
she’s cashing in on her story.
“I’m sorry for them that they think that,” she said. “This is something I feel very passionate about. I
know what I went through and there are stories just like mine that are
happening all the time.” She indicates that she almost feels indebted to
the media, saying, “I know so much was done for me, really so much that
I could never repay back.”
Smart is unsure how long her TV career will last, saying, “I’m not sure where the path will take me, but I
just know that I want to make a difference. So it could be TV, or it could be somewhere else.”

http://thehill.com/capital-living/in-the-know/173991-elizabeth-smart-defends-role-as-abc-news-contributor-

SALT LAKE CITY – Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped at age 14 from her Salt Lake City home and held for what she described as “nine months of hell,” is engaged to be married and anticipates a wedding in early summer, a family spokesman said on Friday.



Smart, now a 24-year-old advocate for missing children and occasional TV news commentator, has not publicly identified her fiance, spokesman Chris Thomas said.

“Elizabeth got engaged this past weekend,” Thomas said in a written statement. “A date for the wedding has not been set but the couple anticipates early summer.”

“While she plans to be very publicly involved with her child advocacy work, she has decided she wants to keep the details of her personal life private,” Thomas added.

Smart was abducted at knifepoint from her bedroom in June 2002 by a homeless street preacher, Brian David Mitchell, and was repeatedly raped and forced to wander with her captor from town to town for nine months.

She was freed after being spotted by passers-by in a Salt Lake City suburb in 2003.

Mitchell was convicted in 2010 of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines to engage in sexual activity. He was sentenced in May to life in prison.

Smart testified during Mitchell’s trial, describing her time as his captive as “nine months of hell.”

Mitchell’s wife, Wanda Barzee, was sentenced to a 15-year prison term in 2010 after pleading guilty to conspiracy and cooperating with prosecutors in the case against Mitchell.

ABC News announced in July it had hired Smart as a contributor on stories about missing persons.

http://www.lfpress.com/news/world/2012/01/20/19274841.html

Smart, 24, and Matthew Gilmour became engaged in January, initially announcing a summer wedding. According to the Smart family spokesperson, NBC station KSL of Salt Lake City reported, those plans changed a week ago in order to avoid attention to the unscheduled ceremony in the Laie Hawaii Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Oahu.

The couple and family were celebrating with a private reception and luau, after which Smart and Gilmour were leaving for an extended honeymoon, KSL said.

"Elizabeth is grateful to be celebrating her special day with those closest to her without distraction," family spokesman Chris Thomas said. "Her wedding further demonstrates it is possible to rise above challenging circumstance to lead a happy and productive life."

At age 14, Smart was kidnapped at knifepoint in June 2002 from her parents' home by Brian David Mitchell.

Smart was held captive and sexually abused for nine months and forced to wander with her captor from town to town for nine months. In March 2003, Smart was rescued when passersby spotted her with Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, in a Salt Lake suburb.


Smart testified against Mitchell, who was convicted of kidnapping and rape in 2010 by the U.S. District Court. He is serving a life sentence and Barzee is serving 15 years in federal prison.

Smart is an activist for children who suffer abuse and has formed a foundation on their behalf. She has worked as a commentator for ABC News.

Gilmour is from Scotland. The two apparently met while Smart was serving an LDS mission in France last year. People Magazine reported the couple will return to Salt Lake City to live.

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/18/10445305-kidnapping-survivor-elizabeth-smart-gets-married-in-hawaii