Elizabeth Smart's Kidnapper Found Guilty
Posted on Dec 10, 2010 @ 02:40PM
A jury in Salt Lake City, Utah found Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapper, Brian David Mitchell, guilty on Friday of interstate kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor to engage in sexual activity.
The jury deliberated for five hours before they reached the verdict.
Smart was in the courtroom with her sister, Mary Katherine, and parents Ed and Lois, as she had been every day of the trial since her testimony. The family smiled when the verdict was read.
SHOCKING PHOTOS: Elizabeth Smart Evidence In Kidnapping Case
While on the stand, the now 23-year-old Smart described the nine month horror she suffered at the hands of Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee, who is serving a 15-year sentence for Elizabeth’s kidnapping.
Elizabeth was taken at knife point from her home on June 5, 2002 at the age of 14, held captive by Mitchell and raped daily during her ordeal.
PHOTOS: Elizabeth Smart Leaves Courtroom
She said she made a decision about how she would handle her dire situation.
“No matter what it took, I would live,” Smart testified. “I would survive and do everything he told me to do to keep my life and my family’s life intact.”
Michael Welner, a New York psychiatrist who appeared for the prosecution at a cost of almost $750,000, said that Mitchell is a sadist and has narcissistic and anti-social personality disorders, with “the features of a psychopath.”
PHOTOS: Jaycee Lee Dugar Before And After Kidnapping
Mitchell’s attorney, Robert Steele, was hard pressed to say anything positive about his client.
In his closing argument, Steele told jurors, “He is not a good person.”
He claimed that his client was mentally ill and suffering from the delusion that he was commanded by God when he abducted then-14-year-old Smart.
The prosecution disagreed, and argued that Mitchell was not insane when he kidnapped Smart. U.S. District Attorney Diana Hagen told jurors that, according to trial testimony, Mitchell disobeyed revelations from God “all the time.”
“And if he can choose to disobey God, he can choose not to rip a child away from her family, keep her bound like an animal and rob her of her dignity, identity and her childhood,” she said.
Mitchell will be sentenced on May 25, 2011 and he faces up to life in prison.
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The Daily Juice
QUIT putting that bast ards picture anywhere NEAR Elizabeths when you discuss this case. Stupid, Radar people.
Posted Wed, 12/15/2010 - 3:53pm
I couldn't bring myself to comment about him on the same post as her, therefore, may he get the same ending as Jeffrey Dahlmer. How do we end up w/such monsters as this on this earth?
Posted Fri, 12/10/2010 - 11:22pm
What an amazing and beautiful young lady.
Posted Fri, 12/10/2010 - 11:12pm
i don't know how to word this really but about that picture...i wish radar would change it. i hate that his nasty face is always printed with hers.
Posted Fri, 12/10/2010 - 4:09pm
I agree with you on that. I would rather see ROL put one of the other on an article but certainly not together. Uggg
Posted Fri, 12/10/2010 - 5:28pm
My heart goes out to that girl..she will carry this her whole life through even though they were found guilty and are put in prison.. She's got a wonderful supportive family and a strong spirit.
Posted Fri, 12/10/2010 - 4:05pm
There is no way this man can pay enough for the damage he has done to this child but hopefully he will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parol. His life behind bars won't be a picnic as he is marked as a pedophile.
Posted Fri, 12/10/2010 - 3:25pm
The other men in prison do not like pedophiles and he will be a marked man in prison but he gets no sympathy from me. What he put that child through is a nightmare beyond belief.
Posted Fri, 12/10/2010 - 3:26pm
He will be forced to take other guy's penises up his anus more than once, that is for certain. Plus, he will probably get the crap beat out of him numerous times. He will be somebody's B*i*t*c*h. Cue the song, "Prison B*i*t*c*h".
Posted Fri, 12/10/2010 - 4:21pm
YEA !! If there ever anybody that deserves what's coming to him, it's this pedophile...
Posted Fri, 12/10/2010 - 3:09pm