Feds Seek Competency Hearing in Elizabeth Smart Case

Federal prosecutors have asked for a competency hearing for the man charged with the 2002 kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart after two psychiatric experts disagreed about his ability to take part in his own defense. A hearing will be conducted later this year for Brian David Mitchell.

Prosecutors are not asking that Mitchell be forcibly medicated; they are asking a judge to rule on his competency as he is now.

Mitchell and his former wife Wanda Barzee were both found incompetent in Utah state court. Barzee was ordered to take medication to help her regain her ability to participate in her defense, but a judge ruled that medication would probably not help Mitchell, under Supreme Court guidelines for forcible medication.

After the judge's ruling on Mitchell, federal prosecutors decided to pursue kidnapping charges against him. If Mitchell is found incompetent by a federal judge this fall, prosecutors will then seek a Sell hearing, to determine if he qualifies under the federal guidelines to be medication.

A Sell hearing is named after the Supreme Court case in which the court ruled that prosecutors must prove a compelling interest is at stake to force medication and that medicating the defendant would further that interest. The medication cannot harm the individual or prevent him from defending himself.

Expert Witnesses Disagree

Elizabeth Smart was 14 when she was taken from her Salt Lake City bedroom in 2002. She was found in March 2003, walking along the streets of Sandy, Utah with Mitchell and Barzee. Smart is now studying music at Brigham Young University.

Mitchell, 55, was examined in a federal facility in Springfield, Missouri, by New York forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael Welner and by Dr. Richart De Mier. Their reports have not been made public, but had they both agreed Mitchell was incompetent, prosecutors would have requested a Sell hearing, instead of a competency hearing.

During his state court hearings, Mitchell quote scripture verses and sang religious hymns to disrupt the proceedings.

See Also:
Prosecutors Seek Competency Hearing in Smart Case

Background:
The Elizabeth Smart Case

Forum:
Discuss The Elizabeth Smart Case

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