One advantage Xtians have over all atheists
Ken
with it
Example: the abduction of Elizabeth Smart
The father of Utah teenager Elizabeth Smart wants the homeless man
accused of abducting her to be locked away in a mental hospital after
being declared mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Ed Smart said on Wednesday that he didn't think Brian Mitchell, 51,
would ever be found fit to stand trial, even though he suspects the
man is faking some of his symptoms.
A Utah judge made the ruling on Mitchell, who is accused of abducting
Elizabeth, then 14, in 2002 and keeping her as a second wife until she
was found nine months later.
Judge Judith Atherton ordered Mitchell, a homeless man and self-
described prophet, to be sent to a state mental hospital until he is
deemed capable of standing trial.
Ed Smart told Fox News television that he thinks Mitchell understands
much of what goes on around him and exaggerates some of his actions.
"I think he puts on a show. I think that's a fake, there's no question
about it."
Smart told reporters that, at the same time, he thought Mitchell had
"deeper" problems that didn't seem to be going away.
Court documents said that Mitchell has allegedly told investigators
that God ordered him to abduct Smart.
"I just don't see any change happening," he told the CBS The Early
Show.
"Why did he think he's the Almighty? There's got to be a mental
problem there," he told Fox News.
During several days of hearings into Mitchell's mental state during
the past seven months, the accused man had to be removed from the
courtroom after loudly singing hymns or shouting religious sayings.
The judge said on Tuesday that although Mitchell understood the
charges against him and possible penalties, he showed symptoms of "a
delusional disorder."
Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, were charged with abducting Smart
from her bedroom at knifepoint in June 2002, sparking a massive search
effort that attracted international attention.
The couple allegedly took Elizabeth into the Utah foothills, where she
was sexually assaulted and kept as Mitchell's second wife.
Nine months later, Smart was found walking with the couple on a street
in Salt Lake City.