This Day In History

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Elizabeth Smart Says She's 'Thrilled' After Guilty Verdict

SALT LAKE CITY — Elizabeth Smart waited more than eight years for the word she heard Friday.

"Guilty," after a federal jury deliberated five hours to convict street preacher Brian David Mitchell of snatching Smart from her bed, at knifepoint in the dead of night, and having sex with her while he held her captive for nine months.

Smart smiled as the verdict was read, while a bedraggled, bearded Mitchell sat at the defense table, singing hymns with his hands before his chest, as if in prayer.

“Today is a wonderful day,” Smart said outside the courthouse hours later, adding “I am so thrilled to be here, so thrilled of the verdict."

"I hope that not only is this an example that justice can be served in America, but that it is possible to move on after something terrible has happened," Smart said.

It was a dramatic end to a tale that captured the nation's attention since she disappeared in June 2002: A 14-year-old girl mysteriously taken from her home, the intense search and her eventual discovery walking Salt Lake City's streets with her captors.

Smart, now 23, flew back from her Mormon mission in Paris to take the stand, and recount her "nine months of hell."

"The beginning and the end of this story is attributable to a woman with extraordinary courage and extraordinary determination, and that's Elizabeth Smart," federal prosecutor Carlie Christensen said outside the courthouse.

"She did it with candor and clarity and a truthfulness that I think moved all of us," she said.

Smart described in excruciating detail how she woke up one night to the feel of a cold, jagged knife at her throat and being whisked away by Mitchell to his camp in the foothills near the family's Salt Lake City home.

Within hours of the kidnapping, she testified, she was forced into a polygamous marriage with him. She was tethered to a metal cable and subjected to near-daily rapes while being forced to use alcohol and drugs.

The five-week trial turned on the question of Mitchell's mental health.

The thinly built, gray-haired Mitchell was routinely removed from the courtroom after loudly singing hymns and Christmas carols and taken to another room to watch the proceedings on closed circuit TV.

He kept his eyes closed in court and never spoke to anyone, including his lawyers.

His lawyers did not dispute that he kidnapped Smart but wanted him to be found not guilty by reason of insanity. Such a verdict would have sent him to a prison mental hospital.

Prosecutors countered that Mitchell was faking mental illness to avoid a conviction, labeling him a "predatory chameleon."

Smart testified she believed Mitchell was driven by his desire for sex, drugs and alcohol, not by any sincere religious beliefs.

Jurors did not buy the insanity defense, deliberating for roughly five hours to find him guilty of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines for the purposes of sex.

As the verdicts were read, the shackled Mitchell sat singing about Jesus Christ on the cross. Smart then turned to her mother and both smiled. Elizabeth Smart later hugged prosecutors.

"It's real!" father Ed Smart said on his way out of the packed courtroom, giving a thumbs up.

Smart and her family had hoped for the guilty verdict and a long sentence.

"(Mitchell) has left a trail of misery behind him," Ed Smart said.

Mitchell could face up to life in prison when he is sentenced on May 25. However, a judge also could impose an unspecified, lesser sentence, prosecutors said.

To the chagrin of the family, the case was delayed for years after Mitchell was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial in state court and a judge refused to order involuntary medications.

Federal prosecutors later stepped in and took the case to trial.

Christensen, the U.S. attorney, said one of the biggest challenges of the case was the six years between the time of the kidnapping and the time the case came into the federal justice system.

A parade of experts took the witness stand to say Mitchell had an array of diagnoses, from a rare delusional disorder and schizophrenia to pedophilia, anti-social personality disorder and narcissism.

Mitchell's former stepdaughter told reporters that she was shocked that jurors didn't see that he was mentally ill.

"He honestly believes God tells him to do these things," Rebecca Woodridge said. "He's upset and frustrated that the Lord is making him go through this."

'Big Love' In Big Trouble With Mormons

Did the creators of HBO's “Big Love” cross a line in Sunday's episode by portraying a ritual that normally happens behind the sealed doors of a Mormon temple?

Some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say there are corners of the religious landscape where Hollywood is just not welcome.

I checked in with polygamist fans of the show who I've written about in the past—fundamentalist Mormons who practice the kind of plural marriage portrayed in “Big Love.”

Anne Wilde, a plural wife for 33 years until the death of her husband, also voiced her objections to Sunday’s episode.

“It seems that many religions have sacred elements that are not for public view--and certainly the LDS temple ceremony is one of them,” said Wilde, co-founder of Principle Voices, a plural marriage advocacy group. She predicted before the show that it would offend mainstream LDS members as well as Fundamentalist Mormons, most of whom have no access to the temple because they practice plural marriage, "but nevertheless support the sacred and private nature of its ceremonies. Indeed, when I touched base with Wilde after the show, she expressed bewilderment that the show pushed the envelope as far as it did. "Of all the parts of the temple ceremony that 'Big Love' could have depicted, they selected absolutely the most sacred and confidential," she said. "I was shocked (as were the two active LDS members with whom I watched the show) that the wording, Priesthood handshake, and going through the temple veil were all shown. I don't see how that part of the ceremony was essential to the plot, as the writers had previously claimed ... I feel they really overstepped ethical boundaries.

Sunday’s episode shows Barb (played by Jeanne Tripplehorn), who is not a church member in good standing, finding a way into a temple anyhow.

“She has been conflicted about her relationship to the Church for three seasons now, but the thought of being cast into ‘outer darkness’ as excommunication promises is something deeply upsetting to her,” Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer, the show’s creators and executive producers, said in an e-mail. “She was brought up in this Church and still loves it. If the Church would allow her to be a member she would do so without hesitation.”

Wilde can relate to much of the show, which often illustrates how plural wives usually get along.

“One thing I have especially liked about the show so far is the family solidarity; even though the three wives have disagreements, they usually support each other in the long run,” she said. “I also like the fact that the Hendrickson family lives in a relatively upscale community, is not in an isolated area, is able to support themselves … dispelling the stereotypes that all polygamous wives are controlled and uneducated, dress in different styles, depend on government assistance.”

But in Wilde’s opinion, this isn’t the first time “Big Love” pushed the envelope. She also questions their accuracy at times. In one plot line, for example, main character Bill Henrickson surreptitiously pursued a prospective fourth wife.

“It is not acceptable, for most Fundamentalist Mormons, if the husband seriously ‘courts’ a future wife without the knowledge of the existing wives,” Wilde said. “And the fact that he ‘slept’ with her before the marriage sealing was performed is definitely immoral in our estimation.”

On Sunday night, Wilde said she did not appreciate the obvious deception Barb had to use in order to get inside the temple. Wilde also said the show got the pattern and color of the temple aprons wrong. (They are green, not blue.)

HBO apologized to those who might be offended by the fictional ceremony. Olsen and Scheffer said they went to great lengths to portray the ceremony accurately.

“In approaching the dramatization of the endowment ceremony, we knew we had a responsibility to be completely accurate and to show the ceremony in the proper context and with respect,” Olsen and Scheffer said in a statement. “In order to assure the accuracy of the ceremony, it was thoroughly vetted by an adviser who is familiar with temple practices and rituals. This consultant was actually on the set throughout the filming of the scenes to make sure every detail was correct.”

According to Olsen and Scheffer, that consultant was born into the church and taught temple ritual and practices. The individual resigned from the church eight years ago.

Sunday’s episode has prompted some mainstream Mormons to boycott and cancel subscriptions to companies owned by HBO’s parent company Time Warner. But The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has not adopted an official position.

“Certainly Church members are offended when their most sacred practices are misrepresented or presented without context or understanding," the church said in a statement. "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an institution does not call for boycotts. Such a step would simply generate the kind of controversy that the media loves and in the end would increase audiences for the series.”

But Wilde hopes more people do watch the show and realize that all Americans (including polygamists) should be granted equal civil rights. She said plural marriage between consenting adults should be a constitutional guarantee.

“By learning more about this lifestyle, they hopefully can see that a polygamous family is very similar to a monogamous family in many ways," Wilde said. "Except there are usually more members of the family, thus more people to love and more people to love you.”