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T H U R S D A Y , M A Y 26, 2011 U T A H < A 5

S E N T E N C E D to L I F E I N P R I S O N
Third District Judge Judith Atherton orders Barzee to the Utah State Hospital, nding her incompetent to stand trial. In August, she is ordered to get another year of mental health treatment. Atherton nds Mitchell incompetent following six days of testimony between February and July. Mitchell will initially spend 90 days at the Utah State Hospital, followed by one-year and 18-month stints. Atherton determines Barzee is still incompetent to stand trial because her refusal to cooperate with doctors is a problem. Judge rules doctors can forcibly medicate Barzee in an attempt to restore her competency. Mitchell is again declared incompetent to stand trial and prosecutors say they will seek to forcibly med- The Utah Supreme Court icate him, too. upholds Athertons ruling on the forced medication. Forced medication for Barzee begins at the Utah State Hospital. 2007 Atherton denies the request to forcibly medicate Mitchell Mitchell, ruling the likelihood Mitchell and Bar- that psychotrozee are indict- pic medications ed by a federwould help al grand jury for him is too low. kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor in the Smart abduction. A federal magistrate orders Mitchell to undergo mental competency examinations. A month later, his defense attorneys ask for the charges against him in state court to be dropped. Atherton refuses to dismiss the state case against Mitchell. 2009 Smart testies as part of a weeks-long competency hearing held for Mitchell in federal court. Utah State Hospital doctors say Barzee is competent to stand trail. A month later, she pleads guilty in the Smart kidnapping and agrees to testify against Mitchell. Barzee pleads guilty in the kidnapping attempt of Smarts cousin. U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball rules Mitchell competent to stand trial. A judge orders Barzee to spend 15 years behind bars, with credit for seven years, in connection with the abduction. A jury convicts Mitchell of Smarts kidnapping. Prison On May 25, Mitchell is sentenced to life in prison. 2011

Mitchell
Mitchell stipulates he is competent to stand trial and pleads not guilty on Sept. 2. Mitchells defense attorneys le a motion to reverse the stipulation.

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Ex-wife: Mitchell needs to admit he abused me, four children, too

Married to Smarts abductor for ve years in the 1980s, she says she reported problems to church ofcials, who refused to believe her.
The Salt Lake Tribune

By MELINDA ROGERS

TRENT NELSON | The Salt Lake Tribune

Later, the trio traveled to California, where Smart testied she feared she wouldnt be found. Smart engineered her own rescue by suggesting a return to Utah, telling Mitchell it would be easier to nd another teenage girl for a wife there. While Smarts testimony was the most dramatic, much of the trial focused on dueling mental-health experts. A defense expert testified that Mitchell suffers from a disorder in which his delusions are encapsulated and triggered only by religious ideas. Another defense expert said Mitchell suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. But prosecution experts told jurors Mitchell didnt suffer from severe mental illness. Rather, they said, he is a pedophile and a psychopath who also has antisocial and personality disorders. In the end, the 12-member jury said they believed Mitchell didnt suffer from serious mental illness and that he knew right from wrong. They deliberated ve hours before convicting Mitchell of felony kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity. Several jurors attended Wednesdays hearing, even though they werent required to do so. One woma n, identi f ying herself as Juror 1, said she wanted to see the case through to the end. I just felt like I had to be there for Elizabeth, the juror said. I wanted to make sure she was OK, even though I knew she would be. Tribune reporters Cimaron Neugebauer, Pamela Manson, Sheena McFarland and Aaron Falk contributed to this report. mrogers@sltrib.com Twitter: mrogers_trib

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Debbie Mitchell never got her day in court. Married to Brian David Mitchell for ve years in the early 1980s, Debbie Mitchell sought help from LDS Church leaders to try to escape an abusive marriage with the man who would eventually be convicted of the 2002 kidnap and rape of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart. But when Debbie Mitchell told her bishops about the physical abuse, they didnt believe her. And when she suggested Brian Mitchell was sexually molesting his four biological children including an 18-month-old daughter the couple shared they laughed. Brian Mitchell was never prosecuted for molesting his own children, or his three stepdaughters Debbie Mitchells children from a prior marriage. So Wednesday the day Brian Mitchell was sentenced for sexually abusing Smart during nine months of captivity Debbie Mitchell seized the opportunity to talk of her own victimization at the hands of her exhusband. Brian Mitchell filed for divorce from Debbie Mitchell, his second wife, in 1985. He would later marry Wanda Barzee, his accomplice in the Smart kidnapping. You have closure when you get divorced. But with what he did to my children, because nobody believed us, there was never closure, said Debbie Mitchell, 60. When I wanted to leave him, the bishops said, No, you need to work on your marriage. I would go to church with black eyes, and theyd ask me what I did to make him hit me. Debbie Mitchells divorce from Brian Mitchell was the start of a lifetime of healing. But she said her children are still traumatized by the abuse they suffered. But one her daughters, Rebecca Woodridge, has become a public supporter of her former stepfather. Woodridge attended Brian Mitchells trial and visits him twice weekly at the Salt Lake County jail. She plans to release a book about her life with Brian Mitchell and how it led her down a troubled path before she found a way to forgive him. Debbie Mitchell has also written a book about her time with Brian Mitchell, titled, No One Would Listen. Not yet published, she said it has been used to help educate bishops in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on how to interact with members who report domestic and

sexual violence. Debbie Mitchell, who volunteers at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and calls herself a dedicated LDS Church member, wishes church members would apologize for not believing her story in the 1980s. I havent had one person in the clergy say, Im really sorry that Brian fooled us. I wish I would have been there for you, Debbie Mitchell said. That would help.

She is also imploring her ex-husband to apologize for his misdeeds. You were the father of our children in our home, and your children were robbed of that safety time and time again; and ... you are now convicted of what you did to Elizabeth, and there is closure for her, Debbie Mitchell said. There is no closure for us. If you dont repent for what youve done to us before you die, I believe you will suffer pain in the life to come as DJAMILA GROSSMAN | The Salt Lake Tribune terrible as the pain youve caused us in this life. Debbie Mitchell, ex-wife of Brian David Mitchell, waits outside federal court prior to Mitchells sentencing Wednesday. She mrogers@sltrib.com said she endured years of abuse during their marriage.

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