SALT LAKE CITY — On the seventh anniversary of the day Elizabeth Smart was found after being abducted for nine months, a trial date was set for Brian David Mitchell, the man accused of kidnapping her.
Mitchell will stand trial in federal court Nov. 1 in the kidnapping and rape of Elizabeth Smart. Attorneys met in U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball's courtroom Friday to finalize a schedule for the upcoming trial.
"We have to try this case this year," Kimball said. "We need to meet these deadlines. I'm really not going to delay this trial."
Attorneys anticipate Mitchell's trial will last at least two weeks.
Also Friday, defense attorney Robert Steele said he intended to file a change of venue motion. The deadline for that filing is May 26.
Mitchell was ruled competent to stand trial last week by Kimball. He was arrested on March 12, 2003, when he, Smart and Mitchell's estranged wife and co-defendant Wanda Barzee were found walking along State Street in Sandy.
For seven years, his case has been tied up in arguments, mostly in state court, over whether he was competent to stand trial and whether he was eligible for involuntary medication. His appearances in court have been brief, as he has been removed from the courtroom for every hearing in both state and federal court since 2004 for constant singing and occasional verbal tirades.
Mitchell was not present for Friday's hearing at his attorneys' request.
Also discussed Friday was how many jury questionnaires would need to be sent out to find a prospective jury pool. Kimball expected it should be similar to the Olympic bribery trial of Tom Welch and Dave Johnson in 2003, in which a couple of hundred jury questionnaires were sent out. Kimball hoped from that, a potential pool of about 75 people could be chosen.
Steele, as he has stated previously, indicated that he intends to seek an insanity defense. He also noted that his defense team was in the process of hiring a new expert witness. Both the defense and prosecution said the number of witnesses each side calls would depend on what their expert witnesses advised and whether the lay witnesses used during the competency hearing were needed during the trial.
Kimball said he wasn't sure if those witnesses would be needed since many of them testified about Mitchell's actions in the Utah State Hospital after the kidnapping.
All sides agreed they would strive for a speedy trial.
After the hearing, Ed Smart, Elizabeth's father, said he didn't know if his daughter would be called to testify at the trial. Elizabeth Smart is currently serving an LDS mission in France.
The fact that a trial date was set on the anniversary of Elizabeth's return was not lost on the Smarts.
"We count our blessings that she's back home and doing so well," Ed Smart said.
Mitchell and Barzee are charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting Smart in 2002. Barzee, who also was ruled to be incompetent to stand trial for years, was recently determined to be competent for trial after receiving involuntary medication. After her competency was restored, she struck a plea deal in both her state and federal cases that could result in her being released from prison in nine years. The deal was contingent, however, on her continued cooperation with prosecutors in their case against her estranged husband.
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