SALT LAKE CITY—
On the seventh anniversary of her miraculous return, a federal judge set a two week trial date for Elizabeth Smart's accused kidnapper, Brian David Mitchell. The homeless street preacher known as "Emmanuel" will stand trial beginning Nov. 1, but it may not be in Utah."I want to set a trial date today and I want it so I don't have to move it," U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball said when setting the trial.
Defense attorneys for Mitchell said they plan to file a motion to move the high profile trial out of Utah. Possible venues could include other states in the 10th U.S. Circuit courts: Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado or Wyoming.
Mitchell's lawyer, Robert Steele, also said he plans to mount an insanity defense, arguing that his client was insane at the time of the alleged kidnapping. Elizabeth Smart, then 14, was abducted from her bedroom at knifepoint in 2002. She was found nine months later in the company of Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, walking down a Sandy street.
"I think it's a mental health case," Steele told reporters outside of court. "I always have."
Kimball previously found Mitchell mentally competent to face trial in the kidnapping. Elizabeth Smart's father, Ed, told reporters that he is glad the case is finally proceeding to trial. Asked if Elizabeth would have to testify at the Nov. 1 trial, Smart said: "I don't know. I guess we'll see what happens."
"We count our blessings that she is back home and that she is doing so well and able to move forward with her life," Smart said, reflecting on the date of her return.
Elizabeth Smart, now 21, testified against Mitchell at his mental competency proceedings, describing how she was abducted and sexually assaulted almost daily. She is currently serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Paris, France.
Barzee recently struck a plea deal, agreeing to testify against Mitchell at any future court proceedings. Asked by Fox 13's Ben Winslow if a plea deal was on the table for Mitchell, Steele would not rule it out.
"I am doing this as if it were any other case," Steele said. "And you always proceed by preparing for trial and seeing if there's a way to settle it. So yeah, always."
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