GUILTY UT - Brian Mitchell & Wanda Barzee for kidnapping, Salt Lake City, 5 June 2002

[michelle]

Nope, I think her family was very loving and supportive.

It has to do more with her disappearance, the investigation and "insanity" of her abductors.

I thought myself when she came home that the whole story was not being told, not that they owe it to tell us you know?

 

[golfmom]

I thought myself when she came home that the whole story was not being told, not that they owe it to tell us you know?

I agree that we're not "owed" all the gory of Elizabeth's trials during her kidnapping, but I sense that there was a huge cover-up in this case. Hence, the incompetency of BOTH Mitchell and Barzee and no public trial.

They were competent enough to elude LE for more than 9 months. IMO, there's something they don't want coming out at a trial so, no trial has been allowed.

 

[michelle]

I agree that we're not "owed" all the gory of Elizabeth's trials during her kidnapping, but I sense that there was a huge cover-up in this case. Hence, the incompetency of BOTH Mitchell and Barzee and no public trial.

They were competent enough to elude LE for more than 9 months. IMO, there's something they don't want coming out at a trial so, no trial has been allowed.

That is weird that no trial was allowed, why is that?

 

[golfmom]

That is weird that no trial was allowed, why is that?

Because they were declared too crazy to stand trial. I don't believe the state will ever declare them "well enough" to stand for a PUBLIC trial of their crimes. Wanda Eileen Barzee has now been forced to take medication.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_9398951

Officials at the Utah State Hospital were preparing Tuesday to forcibly medicate accused Elizabeth Smart kidnapper Wanda Eileen Barzee.

ALSO .....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Smart_kidnapping

Brian David Mitchell (born October 18, 1953) and his wife, Wanda Ileen Barzee, were indicted by a Utah grand jury. His trial on these charges has been postponed indefinitely, following a court ruling that he is not mentally competent to stand trial.

For several months, Mitchell and Barzee were held on $10 million bond awaiting the outcome of mental competency tests. Prosecutors said that Mitchell and Barzee kidnapped Elizabeth to be Mitchell's "second wife",[citation needed] held her against her will in the foothills near Federal Heights until October 8,and then took her to California, where they stayed until March 5.

In January 2004, Barzee was found incompetent to stand trial on charges including kidnapping, sexual assault, and burglary. On July 26, 2005, Mitchell was also found incompetent to stand trial, facing the same charges. A district judge has ordered him held until he is deemed fit for trial.[31][32] Barzee's condition has not improved since she was found incompetent to stand trial. Barzee has also refused "to take medication that might restore her mental competence."[33][34]

................

On Monday, December 18, 2006, Mitchell was again declared unfit to stand trial after screaming at a judge, during a hearing, to "forsake those robes and kneel in the dust." Doctors have been trying to treat Mitchell without drugs, but prosecutor Kent Morgan said after Monday's scene in court that a request was likely to be made for permission to forcibly administer drugs.
Abdu

 

[SewingDeb]

I read not too long ago that they are going to force the woman (Barzee) to take meds so she is competent to stand trial.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ickH9R_yEPnO7wd1bQBqE-Osg4pQD90QE35G4

 

[SewingDeb]

Golfmom, glad you saw that too!

I think there will be a trial and there is no cover-up. We're just dealing with two mentally ill people.

 

[Lola]

I too am glad she came home safe and sound. I have to say though that something about this story never really sat right with me.

I agree

 

[lisag]

I remember the day she was found - I was in my hospital room after just having had my baby... I was so shocked, surprised, relileved....

I agree that something always seemed "off" to me though....

 

[Moab]

Golfmom, glad you saw that too!

I think there will be a trial and there is no cover-up. We're just dealing with two mentally ill people.

I don't believe there is any cover up either. What Barzee and Mitchell are doing is playing the system. A lot cozier in the State Hospital as opposed to jail/prison. I do believe Barzee will be restored to competency with medication, because she was quite the functioning member of society prior to her stopping the medications she was on and hooking herself up with Mitchell. As for Mitchell, who knows...all the times during his competency hearings he would sing and shout scriptures in court...no one has said he still does this in the hospital...only in court. They have much more freedom in the hospital as well as patients can move around the wing of the hospital to which they are assigned - as opposed to a 6x9 cell with only 1 hour outside the cell a day.

 

[golfmom]

I don't believe there is any cover up either. What Barzee and Mitchell are doing is playing the system. A lot cozier in the State Hospital as opposed to jail/prison. I do believe Barzee will be restored to competency with medication, because she was quite the functioning member of society prior to her stopping the medications she was on and hooking herself up with Mitchell. As for Mitchell, who knows...all the times during his competency hearings he would sing and shout scriptures in court...no one has said he still does this in the hospital...only in court. They have much more freedom in the hospital as well as patients can move around the wing of the hospital to which they are assigned - as opposed to a 6x9 cell with only 1 hour outside the call a day.

I guess we'll see, but my HINKY meter worked overtime on this case. Mitchell & Barzee have been "mentally incompetent" for five years now. Pretty long time for folks who know to sing and shout in front of a judge.

 

[Moab]

I guess we'll see, but my HINKY meter worked overtime on this case. Mitchell & Barzee have been "mentally incompetent" for five years now. Pretty long time for folks who know to sing and shout in front of a judge.

It was only 3 weeks ago when Barzee exhausted all options and appeals against being forcibly medicated. If you are not receiving treatment, how can you get well?

What set your hinky meter off? Was it any specific thing?

 

[golfmom]

It was only 3 weeks ago when Barzee exhausted all options and appeals against being forcibly medicated. If you are not receiving treatment, how can you get well?

What set your hinky meter off? Was it any specific thing?

I don't know if it really was a specific thing. Just a sense of unease that something wasn't quite right with this case.

I'm really struggling to put into words why exactly something seems off to me.

 

[Moab]

I don't know if it really was a specific thing. Just a sense of unease that something wasn't quite right with this case.

I'm really struggling to put into words why exactly something seems off to me.

I would love to discuss it with you if you can narrow it down.

 

[CarpeDiem]

I am so glad this girl came home safe and sound. I prayed for her, we all did, its nothing short of a miracle. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20205956,00.html

Go Elizabeth!

Mitchell and Barzee are two of the biggest fruitcakes ever.

 

[golfmom]

I would love to discuss it with you if you can narrow it down.

Maybe some others can try to chime in ..... I know I'm not the only one that feels something is "off" on this case.

Some of it stems from the handling of Richard Ricci. After LE locked in on him being the suspect, they seemed very reluctant to investigate any further out of perhaps a fear of being proved wrong. It took the family going public on Mary Katherine's statement before they released any information about "Emmanuel." There was just something really odd on the way the whole deal was handled.

 

[golfmom]

I was looking through the crime library and found this article on the case. It's interesting that even with strict laws on insanity defense, BOTH defendants have been deemed unable to stand trial.

http://www.courttv.com/news/smart/033103_insanity_ap.html

Smart abduction suspect would have hard time with insanity defense, experts say


SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Legal experts say the transient and self-described prophet charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting Elizabeth Smart will have a tough time avoiding prison if his lawyers choose a defense that claims mental incompetence or insanity.

Utah's legal system is generally unkind to such strategies. State law clearly does not allow an insanity defense based on strong religious convictions or an inability to distinguish between right and wrong.

 

[SewingDeb]

Moab, I'm sure they would rather be in the hospital than prison. Hopefully the jig will soon be up and they will have to face the music.

 

[Floh]

What bothered me about the case to start with was the way the family allowed any number of people into the house leaving their foot prints, finger prints, DNA, you name it, before the police arrived.

 

[SewingDeb]

Golfmom, they have to be able to understand and help with their defense. That's separate from meeting the designation of insanity.

Utah does have a very strict law! I've always thought the inability to distinguish between right and wrong qualified one for the insanity plea. Everywhere but Utah it seems.

 

[sherri79]

something seems off to me. when a girl is taken from her bed in the middle of the night it is normally her father. when it is not her father it tends to be a neighbor. after the girl is raped she is released right away or more likely killed. a pattern makes me feel safer. my hubby is not a pervert and i watch my neighbors like a hawk so my kids should be safe.. right? nothing in this case follows what we know to be the normal pattern of child abductions. she is not taken by a relative or family friend or neighbor. she is taken by a man and woman. odd to have a woman involved in the sexual abduction of a child. she is not killed or released or kept locked in a basement.

i want a pattern because it scares the hell out of me to live in a world with such random acts. i feel safer when i can point at couey and say we should have known look at his record, when i can point at westerfields child and the testimony of his niece as proof this is not random.

i do believe she was taken by strangers. held for months with fear and rape used to control her. the couple is crazy but i do not believe they are insane and unable to stand trial. this girl's story does not fit the pattern and thank God for that. it is a miracle she is alive.