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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Utah Supreme Court has ordered a temporary halt to a forced medication plan intended to restore the mental competency of accused Elizabeth Smart kidnapper Wanda Barzee.
The temporary stay came late Tuesday -- hours after Barzee's attorneys filed an emergency petition with the court.
Barzee's attorney Scott Williams wants to delay a treatment order from taking effect until after the U.S. Supreme Court decides if it will hear an appeal. Last week, 3rd District Judge Judith Atherton had directed the Utah State Hospital to begin "immediate medication" of Barzee.
Earlier Tuesday, Utah State Hospital administrator Dallas Earnshaw said doctors had begun Barzee's treatment.
The Utah Supreme Court's stay is only in effect until justices review Barzee's petition. It's unclear when that will occur.
Barzee and her estranged husband, Brian David Mitchell, are charged with the kidnapping and sexual assault of Smart in 2002.
Barzee was found incompetent to stand trial in 2004. In 2006 Atherton said Barzee met the criteria for forced medication. An initial order to begin a treatment program was issued by the judge last month.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Earlier: SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Doctors at the Utah State Hospital on Tuesday began a forced medication treatment plan designed to restore the mental competency of Wanda Eileen Barzee, who is accused of kidnapping a Salt Lake City teenager in 2002. A judge's order issued Friday -- and delivered to the hospital Monday -- ordered "immediate medication" of Barzee and denied a request to delay until her attorneys file an appeal of the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Hospital administrator Dallas Earnshaw said he could not comment on whether Barzee refused the treatments as in the past, or if doctors had to use force to inject psychotropic medications into her muscle tissue.
"Very rarely would we actually have to hold somebody down," said Earnshaw. "In situations like this when we've gone through due process, that's explained and they typically will take the medication without any fuss or fight."
Scott Williams, Barzee's attorney, said he didn't know how his client had responded to doctors.
"We've not received any response to our request for information," Williams said.
Williams said he was filing an emergency petition with the Utah Supreme Court to block the medication process.
Barzee's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was expected to be filed Wednesday, Williams said.
The 62-year-old Barzee has been at the Provo psychiatric hospital since 2004, when she was first found incompetent to stand trial.
In 2006, Atherton said Barzee met the criteria for forced medication as outlined by a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision, despite testimony from doctors that Barzee claimed to be the "mother of Zion" and receive messages from God through a television.
Utah's high court upheld the ruling in December and last month Atherton directed the state hospital to begin the medication process.
Doctors had voluntarily delayed beginning medications pending William's announcement that he would seek a hearing before the U.S. high court.
In her ruling last week, Atherton said attorneys had presented "no legitimate argument" for further delays.
"The hospital is again ordered to immediately medicate defendant," Atherton wrote.
But Williams said Barzee has a right to exhaust her appeal options. In the past that state has allowed for that process before pressing forward, he said.
"That has suddenly and unilaterally been changed by Judge Atherton," said Williams.
Earnshaw said Tuesday doctors hope to know within a few weeks if Barzee is progressing toward competency.
Doctors testifying for the state during the 2006 hearings predicted a 70 percent chance of success, although defense witnesses said the odds were likely closer to 20 percent.
Barzee and her estranged husband, Brian David Mitchell, both face criminal charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault for the 2002 kidnapping of then 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart from her home in Salt Lake City's upscale Federal Heights neighborhood.
The transient couple was arrested in March 2003 after a citizen spotted them walking through a city suburb with Smart, whom Mitchell had taken as his polygamous wife.
Mitchell, 54, was also found incompetent for trial and is in the state hospital. Atherton has yet to decide whether Mitchell also meets the standards for forcible medication.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
