Smart speaks of her future

[Guest guest]

Here is an article about the young woman who was kidnapped from her bedroom when

she was 14 and held for 9 months by a man and his wife and was abused, tortured

and threatened in every way imaginable. The perp who did this to her was

finally deemed able to stand trial and both he and his wife were convicted; the

article is about what said during her court appearance.

I am posting this article because I agree with her statement about what has

helped her in her healing from the trauma that she so miraculously survived:

said that speaking publicly and openly about the abuse *and helping

other children who have been or are being abused* is helping her heal.

The article also touches on the issue of her kidnapper being mentally ill: the

state judge deemed that he was legally insane and therefor incompetent to stand

trial. However a federal judge deemed that he was legally sane (he knew the

difference between right and wrong, reality and fantasy, and knew what he did

was criminal/illegal, but he did it anyway) and competent to stand trial.

The point being:

Someone who has psychosis (an Axis I mental illness) can't tell the difference

between their hallucinations and what is real, and they are unable to tell the

difference between right and wrong; such persons are declared legally insane and

incompetent to stand trial.

Someone who has personality disorder (an Axis II mental illness) does know the

difference between what is real and what is a hallucination, and knows whether

they are doing something wrong/criminal/illegal or not, and so they are

considered " legally sane " and competent to stand trial.

It sounds like the perp was going for a " legal insanity " defense, but the

federal judge didn't buy it.

" Smart Looks To Beautiful Future "

By JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press – Thu May 26, 7:23 am ET

SALT LAKE CITY – Nine years after being kidnapped, tortured and raped,

Smart is ready to start a " beautiful " chapter in her life, helping other child

victims who can't speak for themselves or are still missing.

" I think one of the biggest ways to overcome any trial in life, to heal from any

kind of experience is by helping those around you, " Smart said Wednesday, after

her kidnapper was sentenced to life in prison. " By lifting those around you, you

end up lifting yourself as well. "

will spend the rest of his life in prison after being

sentenced by a federal judge.

A jury convicted the 57-year-old street preacher of snatching a then 14-year-old

Smart from her Salt Lake City bedroom by knife-point in the early hours of June

5, 2002. The massive search to find the blond-haired, blue-eyed girl riveted the

nation, as did her improbable recovery while walking with her captor on a

suburban street on March 12, 2003.

After the hearing, a beaming and poised Smart told reporters she was thrilled by

the sentence.

" Today is the ending of a very long chapter and the beginning of a very

beautiful chapter for me, " she said.

Smart, who will graduate from Brigham Young University in Provo next year, said

she's weighing her options for the future and wants to work in child advocacy,

including establishing the Smart Foundation, which will focus on

protecting children from falling victim to kidnapping and sexual crimes.

" I am looking at all the different options and trying to decide where I can make

the biggest difference, where I can have the biggest effect for good. "

Smart, now 23, stood fearless in the courtroom, finally getting the chance to

confront her kidnapper with a steady, clear voice.

It took her about 30 seconds.

" I don't have very much to say to you. I know exactly what you did, " Smart said.

" I know that you know that what you did was wrong. You did it with full

knowledge ... I have a wonderful life now and no matter what you do, you will

never affect me again.

" You took away nine months of my life that can never be returned, " she added.

, frail and skinny with a long, peppery white beard, sat the way he did

through years of court hearings — eyes closed, hands clasped as if in prayer,

softly singing hymns, never looking at his victim.

Smart said she wasn't bothered by being ignored or that didn't speak

when asked by the judge.

" I think I can firmly say that I heard enough during those nine months and I

never have to hear anything else from him again, " she said.

's sentencing closed a major legal chapter in the heartbreaking ordeal

that stalled for years after he was declared mentally ill and unfit to stand

trial in state court. A federal jury in December unanimously convicted him of

kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines for sex.

When the judge asked if he had anything to say, , whose hands and feet

were bound, kept singing. His bizarre demeanor changed just once during the

hearing: As he was sentenced, he sang louder.

At trial, Smart described her ordeal as " nine months of hell. " whisked

her away to his camp in the foothills near the family home. She was stripped of

her favorite red pajamas, draped in white, religious robes and forced into a

polygamous marriage with . She was tethered to a metal cable strung

between two trees and subjected to near-daily rapes while being forced to use

alcohol, drugs and view pornography.

, who outlined his religious beliefs in a rambling 27-page manifesto he

called " The Book of Immanuel Isaiah, " took Smart to California for five of

the months she was held captive. She recalled being forced to live homeless,

dress in disguises and stay quiet or lie about her identity if ever approached

by strangers or police. She said he threatened her life and the lives of her

family every day.

U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball said deserved a life sentence because

the facts of the case were " unusually heinous and degrading. "

Carlie Christensen, U.S. attorney for Utah, said the resolution was long overdue

for Smart and her family. " It is a measure of justice for and it will

certainly ensure will never inflict such intolerable and

unspeakable cruelty on anyone else again, " Christensen said.

The defense waived its closing remarks before sentencing. , a

member of 's defense team, said outside court the sentence was not

unexpected.

" I wish Smart and her family the best. I hope they get to move on, "

said.

has 10 days to appeal his conviction.

The facts of the case have never been in dispute, but defense attorneys have

said 's actions were tainted by mental illness and long-held delusional

beliefs that he had been commanded by God to fulfill important prophecies.

Smart, who recently returned from a Mormon church mission in France, has

described her captor as vulgar and self-serving. She said she believed he was

driven by his desire for sex, drugs and alcohol, not by any sincere religious

beliefs.

was deemed competent for a federal trial, though a parallel state case

— where he remains charged with six felonies — stalled after a judge twice

determined he was unfit and rejected a petition for forced treatment.

Defense attorneys maintain needs psychiatric attention and asked the

judge to recommend incarceration in a federal prison hospital.

Wanda Barzee, his estranged wife and co-defendant in the case, is already

serving a 15-year sentence in a federal prison hospital in Texas.

***

From my point of view, its the enabling, enmeshed, spineless dishrag wife who is

even more guilty than her husband. She just passively allowed a little,

helpless, terrified child to be tortured and raped in front of her eyes

repeatedly for months and did nothing.

So... good! They're both in prison psycho wards now, where they should have

been years and years ago. They can't hurt any more kids now. I hope that the

whole time they're imprisoned their brains will be studied intensely by

psychiatric, behavioral, neurological, biological, chemical, and genetic

researchers for the benefit of posterity.

Sometimes there is justice in this world!

Yay!

-Annie