This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Brian David Mitchell has issues. He is almost certainly mentally ill in many different ways. But the ways in which he is afflicted did not mean that he was not to be held responsible for the nine months of misery he forced on an innocent — but inspiringly strong — Salt Lake City teenager.
The jury, after listening to every minute of the 20 days of testimony and argument, found Mitchell guilty of the kidnapping and rape of Elizabeth Smart. It was the right call.
Jurors, the prosecutors who brought the case, the judge who presided over it — and the defense team that did its honorable job of putting forward the best case for their client — all admirably fulfilled their roles in the criminal justice system. Mitchell is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison, where he hopefully will receive treatment for his ills but assuredly will not terrorize another innocent person the way he did young Smart.
An insanity verdict would have sent Mitchell to a psychiatric facility rather than a prison. While he would likely have been there for a very long time indeed, the Smart family and the rest of the community would always have to wonder if, sometime in the future, the fiendishly manipulative street preacher might have been able to game the system enough to win some level of freedom.
But the federal charges on which Mitchell now stands convicted, interstate kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor to engage in sexual activity, are serious enough that he is likely to be sentenced to an actual — or, at the age of 57, virtual — term of life in prison.
It has been a long time coming. Smart, then only 14 years old, was held captive for nine months, subject to all manner of sexual and psychological abuse. Not only was she threatened, but had to hear over and over how members of her family would be harmed, even killed, if she did not submit.
But, in the end, she did not submit.
After all she went through in captivity, and after having to wait for seven years while the case made its way through both the state and federal systems, as Mitchell's mental state and his competence to even stand trial were debated by an array of experts, it was Elizabeth Smart's own strength, her grace under pressure, along with the steadfast support of her family and friends, that are the soul of this story.
The system worked, finally, not only because of public officials and officers of the court who did their jobs, but because of a strong young woman and her supportive family who would not be destroyed.