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SALT LAKE CITY — The wife of Brian David Mitchell, convicted in the kidnapping and assault of Elizabeth Smart, has completed her federal prison sentence and is back in Utah.
Wanda Barzee, 70, was booked Wednesday into the Salt Lake County Jail and is expected to be transferred to the Utah State Prison soon to finish serving her state imposed sentence.
Barzee was sentenced in 2010 to 15 years in federal prison for her role in the kidnapping of Smart, then 14. As part of the "global resolution" to both her state and federal cases, Barzee also pleaded guilty and mentally ill in state court to the 2002 attempted kidnapping of Smart's cousin, Olivia Wright. She was sentenced in that case to one to 15 years at the Utah State Prison. The federal and state sentences were ordered to run concurrently.
When Barzee was sentenced, the judge also noted that she would receive credit in federal prison for the seven years she had already been in custody since her arrest, but she would not receive credit for time served in her state sentence. With good behavior, it was estimated she could be released in about seven years, followed by five years of supervised release. Some had estimated she would be released in August.
Per state law, the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole held an original parole hearing for Barzee in 2011. It was a hearing Barzee did not attend. At that time, the board ruled that Barzee would not have another parole hearing in Utah until June of 2018.
Because her federal prison time ended before then, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said Barzee was transported to the county jail after being released from Texas and will likely be sent to the Utah State Prison on Friday to serve the remainder of her state sentence.
Barzee and Mitchell were convicted in one of the state's highest profile crimes ever when they kidnapped Smart from her home to become Mitchell's so-called spiritual wife. The kidnapping prompted a massive nationwide search, which ended nine months later when the trio was spotted walking on a sidewalk in Sandy.
The legal proceedings for both Mitchell and Barzee became bogged down because of questions regarding the competency of both. Mitchell was convicted in federal prison and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. He is currently being held in a facility in Arizona.
As of Thursday afternoon, the Utah Department of Corrections said it did not comment on prisoner transportation issues due to safety concerns and could not say whether Barzee would soon be transported to the state prison.
Barzee's attorney, Scott Williams, did not return a call for comment.
