Accused Elizabeth Smart kidnapper Wanda Barzee is no longer challenging the findings of two mental health experts who found her incompetent to stand trial.
The move could result in Barzee, 58, being sent to the Utah State Hospital for treatment.
Defense attorneys Scott Williams and David Finlayson on Wednesday filed a waiver of Barzee's right to a mental-competency hearing — a hearing she had previously requested. But in a statement included in the document, Barzee made it clear that she still disagrees with the diagnoses of Dr. Nancy Cohn and Dr. Jeff Kovnick.
"I do not believe myself to be mentally ill or infirm or incompetent in the eyes of the Lord," Barzee wrote.
The doctors could not "understand the special nature of my relationship with God and my role as a minister and servant unto Him," she said. "He has given me a discerning spirit, which the evaluators cannot understand. Their inability to understand is also a result of their different belief system and the influence of Satan's subtle powers upon them."
Barzee said in her waiver that she was speaking through her lawyers because "I have been taken out of the world by our Lord and because I am to be submissive and obedient to Him and his true Prophet; it is not my place to play a role in this proceeding, or to speak publicly."
In a separate development Thursday, David Biggs, the attorney for co-defendant Brian David Mitchell, 50, withdrew from the case and reportedly is leaving the Legal Defenders Association for another position. The Legal Defenders Association confirmed Biggs' withdrawal, but no explanation was offered Thursday.
Biggs could not be reached for comment Thursday. There was also no word Thursday whether Kimberly Clark, who was co-counsel for Mitchell, would take over the case entirely or if someone else would be brought in to help represent Mitchell.
Barzee and Mitchell are charged with kidnapping Elizabeth, then 14, in 2002 and holding her for nine months. Elizabeth was taken from her home during the night of June 5, 2002, sparking a nationwide search. On March 12, 2003, two couples in Sandy noticed three people walking near 10200 S. State and notified police, who subsequently arrested Mitchell and Barzee and returned Elizabeth to her family.
In addition to being charged with first-degree felony kidnapping, Barzee and Mitchell are also charged with five other felonies: two counts of first-degree felony aggravated sexual assault, two counts of first-degree aggravated burglary and second-degree felony attempted aggravated kidnapping.
Barzee had been scheduled for a competency hearing today in front of Judge Judith Atherton. Her lawyers had asked for that hearing to be closed, and Atherton was scheduled to rule on media requests to open the hearing immediately beforehand.
Barzee's lawyers had filed the hearing waiver under seal Wednesday, but on Thursday media attorneys jointly sent a letter to Atherton requesting an emergency hearing to unseal the documents. The letter was signed by attorney Jeff Hunt, representing the Deseret Morning News, KSL-TV, the Society of Professional Journalists and The Associated Press, and Michael O'Brien, representing the Salt Lake Tribune.
Barzee's defense attorneys, Williams and Finlayson, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Because both evaluators found Barzee incompetent to stand trial, without an evidentiary hearing it is likely that Atherton will officially declare her incompetent.
The judge could then order Barzee be admitted to the state mental hospital and be re-evaluated in 60 to 90 days. If she is determined to still be incompetent at that time, she could be sent back to the hospital until another re-evaluation date is set.
In waiving the competency hearing, Barzee wrote, "It is the will of the Lord that, at times, the righteous will suffer. Thus, as with all that has befallen me, I believe that the actions and ruling of this court reflect the will of the Lord, and I accept them as such."
Mitchell's competency hearing is scheduled for Jan. 27. One doctor has declared Mitchell competent to stand trial while another evaluator has found him incompetent. It was unknown how Thursday's developments might affect that hearing.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com