Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
(KSL News-AP) -- A hearing will be held today to decide whether or not mental competency hearings for the couple accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart should be closed.
Lawyers for The Salt Lake Tribune, the Deseret Morning News and the Society for Professional Journalists filed petitions to keep them open.
But the attorney for suspect Brian David Mitchell says Mitchell's right to a fair trial would be jeopardized if the competency hearings are open. Earlier, the judge agreed and closed the hearings to the public.
But media outlets say the public has a right to those results because of the high public interest in the case.
Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee are accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting Elizabeth Smart in 2002. Smart was found safe in a Salt Lake suburb nine months after her kidnapping.
Barzee's competency hearing is set for Friday. Mitchell's is set for later this month.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story)
