Doctors at the Utah State Hospital told a judge three years ago there was a good chance that the forced administration of antipsychotic drugs could make Wanda Eileen Barzee competent to stand trial for the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart. This week, a much changed Barzee took responsibility for her crimes, pleaded guilty in federal court and apologized to Smart, asking her forgiveness.

As part of the plea agreement, Barzee will testify against her estranged husband and co-defendant, Brian David Mitchell.

Like Barzee earlier, Mitchell has refused to take psychotropic drugs or to cooperate in his mental health treatment. But in Mitchell's case, unlike Barzee's, a judge did not approve forced medication, ruling that there was too little chance that drug therapy would improve Mitchell's mental condition.

It is dangerous to generalize about medical cases. But Utahns, witnessing what appears to be a dramatic improvement in Barzee's mental health, are left to wonder what might happen if Mitchell were forced to submit to drug therapy. It is important to remember, however, that the same judge who found enough evidence to order Barzee's medication did not find that evidence in Mitchell's case. Different patients, different disorders, different expert medical opinions, different legal results.

The only thing we can say with certainty, then, is that in the case of Barzee, forced medication appears to have restored her mental health to the point that

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she is no longer the prisoner of religious delusions, can understand the charges against her and has concluded that she did wrong. She apparently will offer testimony that could help to resolve the case against Mitchell, if he is ever ruled competent to stand trial.

Her guilty plea made it unnecessary for Elizabeth Smart, the victim in the case, to testify against Barzee in a trial. That, and the certainty that the justice system has resolved some of her case, albeit seven years after her abduction, must be some consolation to Smart and her family. Mitchell and Barzee were charged with taking Smart from the Federal Heights home of her parents on June 5, 2002. A massive search aided by countless volunteers failed to find the girl, but she turned up nine months later walking in Sandy, dressed in burka-like clothing, in the company of the defendants. The bizarre case captivated Utah and the nation.

We hope that the treatment that Barzee was forced to undergo has or will bring some peace to her as well.