Attorneys plan insanity defense for suspect in Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case in Utah

Insanity defense planned for suspect in Smart case

SALT LAKE CITY — The man charged in the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart will seek an insanity defense.

Brian David Mitchell’s lawyer filed the notice in federal court in Salt Lake City on Thursday.

Defense attorney Robert Steele says he will call psychologists to testify at Mitchell’s trial that he has a mental disease.

U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball found Mitchell competent to stand trial in March, nearly eight years after the street preacher was accused of taking the 14-year-old Smart at night from her bedroom.

She was recovered nine months later after being spotted walking a suburban Salt Lake City street with Mitchell and his now-estranged wife.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office says prosecutors have no comment on the defense filing.

Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, www.sltrib.com