Smart Kidnapping Suspect Ejected from Hearing

For the fourth time, Brian David Mitchell began singing hymns and was removed from a hearing to determine if he is mentally competent to be tried for kidnapping Elizabeth Smart from her Utah home.

After he was removed from the hearing defense experts testified that Mitchell has become even more disturbed and unfit to take part in his trial. Defense attorneys told Judge Judith Atherton that even when they try to speak with Mitchell privately he becomes agitated and begins singing.

However, prosecution psychiatrist Noel Gardner said Mitchell's behavior was not due to a mental disorder but is "related to how he conceptualizes the world, and flows not from a mental disorder but flows from an extremist, idiosyncratic, fundamentalist set of religious ideas about reality."

Judge Judith Atherton has yet to make a ruling on Mitchell's competency.

See Also:
Utah Kidnap Suspect Ejected From Hearing

Background:
The Elizabeth Smart Case