ROY, Utah—
Evelyn Camp remembers when Brian David Mitchell became Emmanuel David Isaiah. He showed up at her doorstep, just a few months before Elizabeth Smart was abducted, clutching a copy of the "Book of Emmanuel David Isaiah," that he had written."Who is this Emmanuel David Isaiah?" she testified that her husband, Dick, asked Mitchell.
"He stands before you!" she said Mitchell bellowed.
Her husband's response? "No sh--! Well c'mon in!"
The confrontation with Mitchell was a lighter moment in an otherwise solemn hearing on the second day of a mental competency hearing to determine whether Mitchell is mentally able to stand trial for the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart back in 2002. Federal prosecutors contend that he is; defense attorneys insist he is not.
Relatives of Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, were called to the witness stand on Tuesday to offer their perspectives on Mitchell. His brother-in-law, Steven Scott Dean, recalled when Mitchell decided he wanted to be called "David" (pronounced Dah-veed). The family opted to call him Brian, anyway. Dean said he never heard Mitchell speak in biblical tones, but remembers when he designed robes for he and Barzee, made a handcart and began begging downtown.
"He said he just wanted to get back to basics, a simpler life," Dean recalled on the witness stand.
Camp, who is Barzee's younger sister, testified that he fought with his wife over growing his hair long, and with a beard. She and others described Barzee's transformation from a talented, personable woman to a shell of her former self, doing Mitchell's bidding. Testifying for prosecutors, Camp recalled how Barzee once handed her a box full of photos of their children, and asked for them to be destroyed.
When defense attorney Robert Steele asked whether the bizarre behavior was a sign of mental illness, all of the witnesses hesitated.
"I think he's a manipulator," Camp told reporters outside of court, shrugging her shoulders. "I think he's a pretty smart cookie that tries to get out of things."
The 10-day hearing will decide if Mitchell is mentally capable of standing trial for the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart, though no decision from the judge is expected immediately.
In 2002, the then-15-year-old Smart was snatched from her bedroom at knifepoint. She was found in the company of Mitchell and Barzee, walking along State Street in Sandy wearing robes. Authorities say Mitchell, who believes himself a prophet, kidnapped Smart to make her a polygamous wife, as he outlined in the "Book of Emmanuel David Isaiah."
Tuesday's hearing began with Mitchell shouting hymns, as he has done at nearly every court hearing he has attended. He was quickly escorted out of the room.
Asked about her sister, Camp said she has been amazed at the progress she has made. Barzee recently pleaded guilty to her role in the kidnapping. She was forcibly medicated to restore her to mental competency and has sought forgiveness for her role in the abduction.
While he supported the guilty plea, Elizabeth Smart's father, Ed, told Fox 13 News, he wasn't sure if a plea deal was right after hearing testimony of some of the things Barzee did.
"I just wonder how much truth is in anything she has to say," he said. "It makes me feel like, if she got off too easily? But somebody else is going to have to make that judgment."
Camp said she spoke to her sister Monday night.
"We laugh together. We couldn't do that before," Camp said of Barzee. "She wouldn't give me the time of day. She disowned me many times and wouldn't speak to me and said that I was Babylon and I was evil."
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