Elizabeth Smart Testifies Against Captors/Brian David Mitchell Sentenced To Life In Prison

Elizabeth Smart To Testify Against Her Captors...

SALT LAKE CITY (Sept. 25) – Elizabeth Smart would tell a court the former street preacher accused of abducting her was motivated by sex, not religion, if she is allowed to testify at his competency hearing, a federal prosecutor said Friday.
If Smart's testimony is allowed, it would be the first time she has faced Brian David Mitchell in court.

Read more: http://news.aol.com/article/elizabeth-smart-may-face-alleged/688202

I agree with Ed Smart that Mitchell's antics are an act. Mitchell is a sexual deviant who needs to stand trial and do his time in prison.

What a strong, beautiful girl Elizabeth is. Somehow I knew she would be the kind of girl who would overcome this tragedy, as it appears she has.
Why hasn't this scumbag been sentenced?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091001/ap_on_re_us/us_elizabeth_smart_1

oops. what happened to the video? It was on here earlier? Am I seeing things??

mimi4all wrote:oops. what happened to the video? It was on here earlier? Am I seeing things??

Hhhmmm, It's there. At least I see it, lol.

It's there. I saw it; then it was just scrambled codes for a minute, lol
Just heard on HLN that Elizabeth testified that she was raped repeatedly EVERY DAY by this monster.
It's amazing that she's been able to move on with her life like she has.

If you ever see scrambled code on this site, go to your profile and make sure you have html enabled. Here is a link showing how to enable it. http://www.realitychatter.com/site-help-suggestions-f5/please-enable-html-in-your-profile-t518.htm

I'm glad Elizabeth is doing well. I hope Brian David Mitchell is ruled competent to stand trial so he can pay for his crimes.

This just posted about what Elizabeth testified. Disgusting and sickening.

Elizabeth Smart says she was raped daily
Posted 1h 23m ago | Comments 16 | Recommend 1 E-mail | Save | Print |


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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — 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.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-10-01-elizabeth-smart-testifies_N.htm?csp=34

Don't you know this was horrible for her parents to have to listen to also? After seeing her father, Ed, on the video earlier, saying that they hadn't ever even asked her about what happened during that time...

It is totally disgusting what Mitchell did to Elizabeth. I can't imagine what the parents are going through listening to that. I hope Elizabeth's testimony helps get the court to rule that Mitchell is competent to stand trial.

Thanks for posting the link Mimi. Here's another article on her testimony. It's so sad that she would have to testify, as well as her parents having to sit there & listen to it. They are all so very brave.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/elizabeth-smart-testifies-raped-kidnapper/story?id=8724302

Oh, I KNOW, fysty. Can you imagine what that was like for her to have to look at that creep, much less talk about it with her parents sitting there? What a nightmare. Her story (and Jaycee) is the only reason that I hold out just a tiny hope for HaLeigh.
I can't believe that creep gave her drugs and alcohol to "have his way" with her.
I know it appears she seems to be doing great under the circumstances, but wonder if anyone is really EVER over something so traumatic.

Smart said Mitchell plied her with alcohol and drugs to lower her resistance.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-10-01-elizabeth-smart-testifies_N.htm?csp=34

He had her for 9 months. Wouldn't she have been addicted to certain drugs by then, depending on what they were? Doesn't take but a couple of weeks to become addicted to pain meds/anxiety meds if taken on a regular basis.
I can't imagine what this girl went through after her return back home.

You know, it was probably better that she was drugged or plastered with booze. Think about it. At least some of what was happening to her could have been fogged out. JMO. I can't even imagine living through something like this.

Elizabeth is obviously a very strong young woman. She wanted to protect her parents, save them from absolute heartache, by not revealing what she had to endure at the hands of this sick beast. I know someone very much like her, no details until in front of a grand jury. I can't tell you how shocking and devastating it can be to learn in great detail what was done to a child. I truly wish her parents great strength in having to come to terms with this information. I hope Elizabeth will continue to move forward with her young life. I cried when I saw her father on TV this morning. Unfortunately, it's not something you put behind you and move on, it can be a great challenge for many, many years.

Ed Smart on Elizabeth: Elizabeth was amazing; Brian David Mitchell Is An Animal

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/ed-smart-elizabeth-smart-brian-david-mitchell-gma/story?id=8730857

Ed Smart said today that he was "incredibly proud" of his daughter Elizabeth Smart after she took the stand Thursday to testify against her alleged abductor, and that he had "no idea of the scope" of the abuse she underwent at the hands of Brian David Mitchell.


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The 21-year-old says she was raped daily during her nine months in captivity.

More Photos"I couldn't believe that anyone would be such an animal," Ed Smart told Diane Sawyer today on "Good Morning America." "I couldn't believe anyone could be so abusive, so self-absorbed and so selfish."

Elizabeth Smart appeared composed and calm on the stand Thursday as she recounted nine months of horror. She testified that she was raped "on a daily basis up to three or four times" by Mitchell, the homeless preacher who allegedly kidnapped Smart when she was 14 and held her captive for nine months.

Smart and wife Lois accompanied their daughter to court, and he visibly winced as his daughter described how she was treated during her captivity

A woman accused of helping kidnap Utah teenager Elizabeth Smart from her bed in 2002 apologized to the young woman Tuesday as she pleaded guilty to federal charges.

"I'm greatly humbled as I realize how much Elizabeth Smart has been victimized and the role I played in it," Wanda Eileen Barzee said during a court hearing Tuesday.

"I'm so sorry, Elizabeth, for all the pain and suffering I have caused you and your family," she said, according to a court transcript. "It is my hope that you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive me one day."

Barzee, 64, pleaded guilty in federal court to kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor, and she said she will plead guilty in state court to conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping. She also agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the state and federal cases against her husband, Brian David Mitchell, said Brett Tolman, the U.S. attorney for Utah.

Read the plea agreement

The couple is accused of abducting Smart, then 14, at knifepoint from her bedroom in her family's Salt Lake City home in June 2002. Smart was found nine months later, walking down a street in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy, Utah, in the company of Barzee and Mitchell, a drifter and self-described prophet who calls himself Emmanuel and had done some handyman work at the Smarts' home.

Smart was not in court Tuesday to hear the apology, but her father, Ed Smart, said afterward, "I certainly believe that Wanda was a victim to a point. But she chose to be that victim. ... I think that was her choice."

Asked about Barzee's apology, Ed Smart said, "I just hope that it was sincere and that she will continue on that track and prove that through the rest of Brian Mitchell's trial, or whatever happens. ... I felt it was sincere. I hope it was sincere."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/17/smart.plea/index.html

Ed Smart is right. Barzee chose to be the victim. She also admitted that she encouraged Brian David Mitchell to carry out the kidnapping.

Ms. Barzee appears to have a makeover as well.... barfee

Federal judge rules Elizabeth Smart suspect competent to stand trial

March 1, 2010 5:24 p.m. EST

(CNN) -- Brian David Mitchell, accused of kidnapping Utah teenager Elizabeth Smart in 2002, is competent to stand trial, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Carlie Christensen, acting U.S. attorney for Utah, released a statement saying she was pleased with U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball's ruling, calling it "a significant step toward holding the defendant accountable for his conduct."

Mitchell, now 56, is accused of abducting Smart, then 14, at knifepoint from her bedroom in her family's Salt Lake City home in June 2002. Smart was found nine months later, walking down a street in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy, Utah, in the company of Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Eileen Barzee. Mitchell, a drifter and self-described prophet who called himself Emmanuel, had done some handyman work at the Smarts' home.

In November, Barzee, now 64, pleaded guilty in federal court to kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor in connection with Smart's abduction. As part of her plea deal with prosecutors, she entered a guilty plea to a lesser charge and agreed to cooperate in the state and federal cases against her husband.

Smart, now 21, testified at a competency hearing for Mitchell in October, saying she had been held captive in Utah and California after her abduction. Just after she was kidnapped, she testified, Mitchell took her to a wooded area behind her home and performed a mock marriage ceremony with her, then raped her. She said that during the nine months of her captivity, no 24-hour period passed without her being raped by Mitchell.

State court proceedings against Mitchell had been on hold pending the outcome of the federal case against him.

Read the judge's opinion

"Elizabeth Smart, her family and this community have waited many years for resolution of this case," Christensen said in the statement.

"While we have great respect for the state court efforts in this case, we believe that the additional in-depth testimony of both fact and expert witnesses presented to Judge Kimball in the federal competency proceedings was instrumental in his decision-making process," she said. "Many of these fact and expert witnesses testified for the first time during the federal competency hearing."

As a next step, Kimball will set a date for Mitchell's trial to begin, she said. His ruling on Mitchell's competency cannot be appealed until after the case concludes.

Barzee had been housed at the Utah State Hospital while courts determined her competency as well as that of her husband. After years of being declared incompetent, she was found competent to stand trial, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. A state court had ruled she could be forcibly medicated, and that ruling led federal prosecutors to bring a case against the couple.

Last month, Barzee pleaded guilty but mentally ill in state court in the attempted kidnapping of Smart's cousin a month after Smart's disappearance. In exchange for her plea to one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping, state prosecutors dropped charges against her in Smart's abduction, according to Nancy Volmer, spokeswoman for Utah state courts.

Federal prosecutors have recommended that Barzee serve a 15-year prison sentence but asked that her sentencing date be continued to allow for her prosecution in the case against Mitchell. She faces between one and 15 years in prison on the state charge, but prosecutors agreed to allow that sentence to run concurrently with the federal sentence. Sentencing is set for May 21 on the state charge.

At her plea hearing, she apologized to Smart and her family, saying, "I'm greatly humbled as I realize how much Elizabeth Smart has been victimized and the role I played in it.

"I'm so sorry, Elizabeth, for all the pain and suffering I have caused you and your family," she said, according to a court transcript. "It is my hope that you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive me one day."

Smart was not in court to hear her apology. But her father, Ed Smart, told reporters afterward, "I just hope that it was sincere, and that she will continue on that track and prove that through the rest of Brian Mitchell's trial, or whatever happens."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/01/elizabeth.smart.suspect/index.html?eref=rss_crime&iref=nancygrace