State, federal judges to sentence woman in Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case
By APFriday, May 21, 2010
Woman to be sentenced in Elizabeth Smart case
SALT LAKE CITY — The woman who pleaded guilty to kidnapping Elizabeth Smart faces sentencing in two courts Friday, eight years after the girl was snatched from her Salt Lake City bedroom at knifepoint and held captive for nine months.
Wanda Eileen Barzee, 64, is set for back-to-back sentencing hearings in U.S. District Court and Utah’s 3rd District Court.
Barzee could face a combined 30 years in state and federal prison for her role in the abduction of Smart, who was 14 when Barzee and her husband, Brian David Mitchell, allegedly kidnapped her in June 2002.
Barzee’s sentencing has been repeatedly delayed because she was twice deemed incompetent to stand trial.
Barzee was court-ordered to undergo treatment with anti-psychoctic medications, and last fall doctors at the Utah State Hospital said her competency had been restored. The finding prompted plea negotiation with state and federal prosecutors.
In November, Barzee pleaded guilty to federal charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines for Smart’s abduction.
Then in February, she pleaded guilty, but mentally ill, in state court to a second-degree felony conspiracy charge for the attempted kidnapping of Smart’s cousin, Olivia Wright, about six weeks after the Smart’s abduction.
As part of her plea agreements, Barzee has agreed to testify in pending state and federal cases against Mitchell.
Mitchell, 56, is scheduled for a federal court trial beginning being Nov. 1. A state case has been stalled because Mitchell was also deemed incompetent for trial. A state judge 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.
A one-time itinerant street preacher, Mitchell allegedly wanted Smart as a second wife so that he could fulfill a religious prophecy laid out in a 27-page manifesto he drafted in early 2002.
