Elizabeth Smart

So, like many Utahns I am attempting to follow the Elizabeth Smart trial. What I find intriguing is seeing how many people are finally willing to steam-roll Brian David Mitchell...mostly noticeably Wanda Barzee. Now, I am not one to judge, well... just-kidding, I actually judge far too often. Anyway, Wanda Barzee, who is Mitchell's wife, just finished testifying against him in exchange for a plea. Now, in my mind there is no doubt that Mitchell is guilty, and will/should be convicted. However, I do have a problem with the justice system, and Ms. Barzee's testimony, and I'll tell you why. For years Wanda was deemed incompetent to stand trial, and then somehow she was eventually found competent, which prompted her to rollover and take the plea. Now, I am admittedly a skeptical person by nature, but her testimony sounds too awfully good for the prosecution to be completely accurate, expecially given the fact that she was originally not competent to stand trial. Here are a couple of things that were said by Wanda during day two of her testimony: quoting Mitchell, "they were given a command by God to take young girls ages 10-14 and it was definitely a 14 year old girl Mitchell was after"; "he spent five months planning the kid-napping"; and she claimed she was manipulated by him. Now, as you can tell, this looks like some pretty strong evidence to fit the prosecution's plan. I just do not understand how a woman who has been married to him for twenty-five years, been through so many odd things with him, goes through therapy, takes some meds, and is now credible enough to present so much evidence that could potentially imprison him for life. I personally think that if you are that close to someone that crazy for twenty-five years you are probably not he most sane yourself, so trying to place blame on one person just seems too convenient and well timed to be completely accurate. Well, at least that is how this cynic sees it.