State attorneys have asked 3rd District Judge Judith Atherton to hold a hearing where Utah State Hospital doctors and defense experts can testify on the issue.
Assistant Utah Attorney General Susan Eisenman says she can prove four threshold factors, including that there is a substantial likelihood that drugs will make Barzee competent for trial.
"We don't think there's enough to have a hearing," countered defense attorney Scott C. Williams on Tuesday. "But we don't oppose a hearing."
Doctors at the Utah State Hospital have been trying to make Barzee competent to stand trial since last March. The doctors recently declared the 59-year-old woman has made no progress, and is, in fact, deteriorating.
The last remaining option is to try anti-psychotic medica- tions, according to doctors.
But Barzee has refused to take drugs. She has also refused routine medical procedures, such as weight and vital-sign checks, from hospital staffers, according to court documents.
Williams says there is scant clinical evidence that Barzee - or anyone diagnosed with her illness - would benefit from medication.
"There is very little information that supports a belief that the diagnosed delusional disorder she suffers from would respond to psychotropic medication," Williams said during an interview.
Furthermore, forcing drugs on Barzee, who does not believe she is mentally ill, could in itself cause additional deterioration, Williams said.
Barzee and her husband, Brian David Mitchell, are charged with kidnapping then-14-year-old Elizabeth from her Federal Heights home June 5, 2002. The three were found on a Sandy street nine months later.
Two court-appointed evaluators agreed Barzee was incompetent to stand trial. But Mitchell's evaluators disagree about his mental competence. Mitchell's ongoing competency hearing is set to continue May 24.
Mitchell was a homeless street preacher who claimed God wanted him to take seven young plural wives - part of a plan to restore The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including its former practice of polygamy, after an apocalyptic battle between the forces of light and darkness.
According to court documents, Barzee's symptoms include beliefs that God has ordered her to take a vow of silence, that he sends her messages through movies, and that the doctors caring for her are evil and are working against God's plan.
