SALT LAKE CITY—
Elizabeth Smart gave detailed testimony on the second day of the federal trial of Brian David Mitchell, including a close call with a detective, an escape attempt, rape, drug use, her move to San Diego and her trip back to Salt Lake City.Mitchell, 57, is facing charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines. He could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.
Smart, then 14, was kidnapped from her bedroom back in 2002. She was found nine months later, in the company of the homeless street preacher and his wife, Wanda Barzee. Smart testified at a mental competency hearing for Mitchell that she was forced to "marry" him. She says she was raped almost daily during her ordeal.
The trial is scheduled to last until Dec. 10.
Catch up with our live blog here for the latest updates from Fox 13's Ben Winslow on the trial:
UPDATE at 2:11 p.m: WARNING: GRAPHIC TESTIMONY INCLUDED: Federal prosecutor Felice Viti has had Elizabeth Smart recap some things from her time in California. As the afternoon wore on, Smart's voice began to sound tired.
She described being given a candy bar on her birthday and then raped. She spent the holidays getting a free meal for the needy, but was not allowed to open her veil very much to shield her face.
As Brian David Mitchell panhandled, Wanda Barzee and Smart would stand behind him, she said. An FBI agent showed her an exhibit at trial, a piece of paper she described as a "Declaration of Our Faith."
"He copied them off at Kinkos," Smart said. "He wrote it, but his wife went back and rewrote it in this sort-of calligraphy writing."
"Was Ms. Barzee adept at calligraphy?" Viti asked.
"Yes."
Mitchell and Barzee had been arguing again. Barzee was upset that he would drink.
"He felt the Lord had something to tell her, again," she said. "So he gave her a blessing, or what he said was a blessing. In the blessing he said the time had come to make a new schedule."
The schedule was for sex, Smart testified in graphic terms.
"Did he discuss your duties to him? Did he discuss some of the duties he believed were owed him?" Viti asked.
"He said I needed to continue to be there and available for him when he needed me, wanted me," she said. "Being there for his sexual needs and desires. He also told me that it was my duty to clean up around the camp and that although that might seem mundane, all those things had eternal significance. They were of eternal value and weight."
"If you didn't do that around camp would it get done?"
"Nope."
Mitchell told her that she needed to start calling herself by another name, too, she testified.
