Taking the stand for the first time since she was snatched from her girlhood bedroom seven years ago, Elizabeth Smart testified Thursday that her captor raped her three or four times a day, kept her tied up with a cable around her leg, and threatened to kill her if she tried to escape.Asked by a prosecutor to describe Brian David Mitchell, the self-described prophet accused of holding her captive for nine months, Smart replied: "Evil, wicked, manipulative, stinky, slimy, greedy, selfish, not spiritual, not religious, not close to God."
Smart, now a 21-year-old college student, gave her horrifying account in federal court as part of a proceeding over whether Mitchell is mentally competent to stand trial.
Wow, that's some prophet. The 55-year-old Mitchell has been incarcerated since 2003, in and out of the state mental hospital. Twice he was ruled incompetent to stand trial. The day of Smart's testimony, Mitchell had been removed from the courtroom for disrupting the proceedings.
Smart testified that within hours of her 2002 kidnapping at knifepoint, she was led away to a secluded mountain campsite and in a quickie ceremony became the polygamous "wife" of the older man.
Isn't it interesting that he organized a ceremony? I think some of these extreme Mormons have lost the ability to distinguish proper from improper behavior. As long as it's covered by their religious rules they seem to be able to justify just about anything.
The article describes how the so-called prophet was pretty wacky when he committed the abduction, but since his arrest it's escalated to the point of delusional impairment, rendering him incapable of standing trial.
Does anyone else get the impression he might be manipulating the system?
Is there any similarity between the Mormon fundamentalist and his Christian counterpart?
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
