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.