A federal court will try Brian David Mitchell, the alleged kidnapper of Elizabeth Smart, after years of delays. Jury selection began Monday for Mitchell’s court, more than eight years after Smart, who was 14 years old in 2002, disappeared from her family’s Salt Lake City home. Mitchell’s wife had been convicted this past year within the Smart case and might testify against him as his lawyers seek to portray the man as crazy.
What happened when Smart was kidnapped
Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped in 2020. This was on June 5. The media had been consumed with the teenager's abduction as her parents were always pleading for her return on the news. The drifter who had worked at the Smart residence at one point, Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Ileen Barzee, were found with her nine months later just 18 miles from her home. Mitchell, who believed he had been a prophet named “Emmanuel,” had been charged along with his wife with kidnapping, sexual assault and burglary. The Utah district court ruled in July 2005 on the couple. They were said to be incompetent to stand trial by the court.
The Elizabeth Smart case
Legal action started again after Mitchell and Barzee were ruled competent to face trial in 2008 after a TV movie came out about Elizabeth Smart. The kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor had been what Barzee pleaded guilty to in November 2009. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Barzee said she'd cooperate in state and federal cases against Mitchell in a plea agreement. A nurse watching Mitchell in a psychiatric ward said in Dec 2009 that he had been trying to avoid prosecution by faking insanity. Mitchell was called a "misleading psychopath" by United States District Judge Dale Kimball who said he will stand trial in March 2010.
The Mitchell trial
22 year old Elizabeth Smart testified. This took place at a Mitchell competency hearing they had. She testified to having been taken from her room and abused sexually. This happened many times when being held captive by Mitchell. The next thing Mitchell's attorney's did had been say that there would not be any impartial jurors to do the circumstance since there was so much media coverage of the account in 2002. Mitchell entered the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City Monday in an orange prison jumpsuit rather than a hospital gown, followed by 35 of his potential jurors.
Articles cited
Washington Post
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/22/AR2010102202949.html
CNN
cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/31/utah.elizabeth.smart.trial/index.html?npt=NP1
Salt Lake Tribune
sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50581578-76/mitchell-juror-jury-case.html.csp
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Smart_kidnapping
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