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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A competency hearing this week could provide some insight into the mind of the homeless man charged with kidnapping Elizabeth Smart.
Brian David Mitchell, 50, and wife Wanda Barzee, 58, are accused of kidnapping the then-14-year-old from her bedroom at knifepoint in 2002 and keeping her for nine months in Utah and California as Mitchell's second wife.
The two are charged with kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, aggravated burglary and attempted aggravated kidnapping. The couple has been in custody since Elizabeth was found with them along a suburban street in March 2003, but there has been little progress in bringing them to trial.
Mitchell's hearing is scheduled to start Tuesday and last three days, but it could take much longer to decide on his competency.
"We never know how long things are going to go," said Robert Stott, Salt Lake County deputy district attorney.
Mitchell was reportedly motivated by a "revelation from God" to take and detain Elizabeth in the Wasatch foothills just a few miles from the Smart house, according to court documents.
The competency hearings have taken a winding path through Utah's courts, following several challenges and appeals from media outlets, including The Associated Press, to keep them open. Mitchell's defense wants them closed, arguing a public hearing would taint the jury pool if Mitchell were found competent to stand trial.
Judge Judith Atherton sided with media interests earlier this month, setting the stage for a three-day peer into Mitchell's psychiatric condition.
Barzee has been twice deemed incompetent to stand trial in January, and is undergoing treatment at a state mental hospital. She's scheduled to be re-evaluated in August 2005.
The two court-appointed experts who have evaluated Mitchell "are not close to being in agreement" over his competency, Atherton has said.
The only point the two experts could agree on, Atherton said, was that Mitchell -- a self-proclaimed prophet -- has a narcissistic delusion. The differences boil down to his willingness or ability to assist his defense.
The process has been delayed by Mitchell's refusal to cooperate with evaluators, who have reached their conclusions by talking to Mitchell's friends and family.
"What makes it most complicated is that neither of them has actually talked to him," said Kimberly Clark, Mitchell's lead attorney. "They're just guessing."
The evaluator chosen by the defense had deemed Mitchell incompetent, while the prosecutors' choice has found him fit to stand trial.
Legal incompetence means a person is prevented by mental illness or other ailment from understanding the charges against them or aiding in their own defense.
Charging documents indicate Elizabeth was sexually assaulted at least three times during her nine-month ordeal. The first assault occurred on the day of her abduction, followed by another assault the next day and at least one other on an unspecified date.
The trio was found nine months after Elizabeth first disappeared in Sandy after being sighted walking along the street.
Mitchell and Barzee are also charged with aggravated burglary, attempted aggravated kidnapping and conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping in a second attempted abduction -- that of Smart's 18-year-old cousin, Jessica Wright -- seven weeks after Elizabeth was taken.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
