FBI agent: Man charged in Smart kidnapping said he expected world to see him as monster

FBI agent recalls talks with suspect in Smart case

SALT LAKE CITY — An FBI agent said Wednesday the man charged with kidnapping Elizabeth Smart told him that he expected the world would see him as a “child predator, sexual deviant, a monster.”

Agent George Dougherty also testified during a competency hearing in U.S. District Court that Brian David Mitchell asked for an explanation of what would follow his arrest.

Dougherty thought Mitchell was intelligent and understood what was ahead in the judicial process.

“He was very careful about how he would answer the questions,” Dougherty said. “Almost like he was sitting on the witness stand. He was very calculated.”

The hearing is intended to determine if Mitchell, 56, is competent to stand trial and defend himself on charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines.

Leslie Miles, a psychiatric nurse, testified Tuesday that she believed Mitchell faked psychiatric symptoms and behaviors to avoid prosecution.

Mitchell has been diagnosed with a rare delusional disorder and was twice deemed incompetent for trial in a state criminal case. In 2005, a Utah judge ordered him held at a state hospital that works to restore the competency of mentally ill defendants.

Mitchell’s defense attorneys said the former street preacher is still unable to participate in his defense.

Smart was 14 when she was taken from her home at knifepoint in June 2002.

Dougherty recounted four interviews he had with Mitchell in March 2003, after Smart was found walking a suburban street with Mitchell and his now-estranged wife, Wanda Eileen Barzee.

Dougherty said Mitchell told him Smart could have returned to her family anytime and was never gagged as searchers called her name in the mountains behind the Smart family home.

Now 22, Smart has not attended the current proceedings but gave testimony in October, saying she was raped after a marriage ceremony staged by Mitchell.

During cross examination by defense attorney Robert Steele, Dougherty confirmed Mitchell had said he considered it a “sign or blessing from God” that he had not been arrested during several encounters with police after Smart was abducted.

Richard Forbes, a former law enforcement officer and expert in religious extremist groups, testified that Mitchell employed the same tactics of isolation, threats and indoctrination that such groups use to control people.

Forbes compared Mitchell’s writings with those of violent Utah polygamist Ervil LeBaron, the former leader of the Church of the Lamb of God who was convicted of ordering his brother’s murder.

Mitchell and LeBaron, who died in prison in 1981, both claimed to hold special relationships with God and appeared to use revelation conveniently to justify illegal actions, Forbes testified.

“Brian David Mitchell believed lies, crimes and deceptions were all right if they were under his authority as a spokesman of God,” said Forbes, who also reviewed a psychiatrist’s report on Mitchell and the testimony by Smart.

Defense attorney Audrey James asked Forbes if it mattered that LeBaron had amassed followers who believed he was a prophet, but Mitchell had not.

“The basic methods of controlling the people in their groups were the same, whether it was one person or whether it’s 900,” Forbes said.

The competency hearing is expected to last through Dec. 11. A ruling by Judge Dale Kimball on whether Mitchell is competent is not immediately expected.

However, his eventual decision will determine if the case proceeds to trial or Mitchell is returned to treatment that might restore his competency.

If eventually convicted, Mitchell could spend the rest of his life in prison.