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SALT LAKE CITY — Defense attorneys for Brian David Mitchell say their client should be sent to a federal mental health facility when he is sentenced next week.
In court papers filed Tuesday, defense attorney Robert Steele said Mitchell, convicted of kidnapping then 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart and taking her across state lines for the purpose of having sex, should have his mental and physical health needs considered when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball.
Steele argued that all of the mental health experts who testified during Mitchell's trial, even those called to the stand by the government, testified that Mitchell had a mental condition that ranged somewhere between a "severe mental illness" and a mental disease.
"All of them explained his (offensive) behavior as at least in part generated by these mental health conditions. The jury noted in its press conference that all of them thought that Mr. Mitchell had some sort of mental health problem but decided ... (it) did not interfere with his ability to understand the nature of what he was doing and that it was wrong," Steele wrote.
The jury, which had the option of finding Mitchell not guilty by reason of insanity, unanimously found Mitchell guilty on both counts.
Steele contends the record "amply supports the position that Mr. Mitchell suffers from a mental condition that contributed at least in part to his commission of the offense."
Also Tuesday, defense attorneys said in their memorandum that Mitchell, who suffered a seizure in court during the trial, continues to suffer seizures every four to six weeks. Sometimes the seizures go unrecorded by officials, "because Mr. Mitchell can now sense when they are coming on and he can sit or lay down, thus avoiding falls leading to injury," according to court documents.
The filing by Mitchell's defense team comes on the heels of an earlier filing that contended Smart, who was raped daily by their client, really didn't suffer "extreme psychological injury" during her nine months in captivity.
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