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I have never been a big television person, mostly because … well, there are so many great books to be read. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, though, my coping mechanism was to watch the news with an obsession that was almost unhealthy. I knew Fox News’ entire lineup (Fox was way more alarmist than CNN, so I figured I’d get any sort of bad news right away). Through the …
… period of time when I watched the news all day, every day when I wasn’t at work, I saw some pretty sad and scary things.
Most disturbing was the “Fox News Alert” breaking into the regularly scheduled commentary to inform viewers that yet another child had been reported missing.
Jessica Lunsford. Danielle van Dam. Samantha Runnion. Carlie Brucia. Even Laci Peterson and Chandra Levy.
All were reported missing, all were in the news relentlessly as their whereabouts were investigated, and all were ultimately killed in violent and unspeakable ways.
In June of 2002, when Fox News alerted me and thousands of other viewers that fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart had disappeared in the middle of the night from the bedroom she shared with her younger sister, Mary Katherine, I figured, “There’s no way that girl is ever coming home. She’s another statistic.”
And as the investigation lit up the news wires before petering out into just an occasional mention, I found myself very interested in the case. I felt that Elizabeth’s parents, Ed and Lois, were a little strange (and I have an innate distrust of Mormons that I’m trying really hard to get over), the whole window-screen-of-a-second-floor-window-cut-out kind of suspicious, and the fact that her sister apparently slept through the whole thing (as it turns out, this was not the case, but it’s the impression the media gave) pretty weird.
Ultimately, I decided pretty quickly that Elizabeth Smart was dead and that it would turn instead into a “whodunit” a la JonBenet Ramsey where the odd behavior of the parents would cast suspicion on them—whether deserved or not—and that this would be the dubious legacy of a child’s life.
Except Elizabeth Smart was alive. She was found nine months after her kidnapping in Sandy, Utah held captive by Brian David Mitchell (a homeless man once hired for a day’s work by the Smart family under the name “Emmanuel”) and his wife Wanda Barzee, a victim of constant rape and abuse while in captivity.
Elizabeth Smart, now 23, is currently testifying against her captor in his long-awaited trial.
Elizabeth Smart testified Wednesday that the street preacher accused of kidnapping her in 2002 frequently prayed that the teenager would fulfill her marital duty of having sex — something she said was “about the farthest thing” from her prayers.
Smart took the stand a third day and gave a spirited rejection of Brian David Mitchell’s defense contention that he suffers from an escalating mental illness and holds extreme religious beliefs that lead him to think he is directed by God.
Mitchell was a crude, vulgar, self-serving person who used religion to justify his actions, including her kidnapping and rape over nine months, she said, calling him a hypocrite.
“He was his number one priority, followed by sex, drugs and alcohol, but he used religion in all of those aspects to justify everything,” Smart said in a clear voice, confidently expressing her own religious knowledge.
“Nine months of living with him and seeing him proclaim that he was God’s servant and called to do God’s work and everything he did to me and my family is something that I know that God would not tell somebody to do,” she said. “God would never tell someone to kidnap her at knifepoint from their bed, from her sister’s side … never continue to rape her and sexually abuse her.”
You know, I cannot imagine how this girl (well, woman, now) is able to possess the level of grace and dignity that she’s demonstrated in the trial proceedings. I am frankly in awe of her courage as she’s not only dealing regularly with the fact that pretty much the entire country knows that she was the victim of regular rapes and forced to abuse alcohol but that she’s somehow managed to make lemonade out of some pretty sour lemons, becoming an activist in areas including both kidnapping and overcoming obstacles in life.
Smart did, of course, face cross-examination from Mitchell’s attorney … and she continued to sound articulate and poised with a shocking lack of bitterness.
During a short cross-examination, Smart was asked by federal public defender Robert Steele whether Mitchell’s use of prayers and blessings seemed familiar to her own practice of Mormonism.
Smart said there was some similarity, but Mitchell used spoken prayers to manipulate her and Barzee, including to have sex.
“The things that he would say in his prayers were things that I would never have said,” she replied.
“He would say, ‘Please bless me,’ (Smart), that I would be able to cope with my wifely duties and be able to rise to the occasion and fulfill my wifely duties. That is about the farthest thing from my prayers.”
Elizabeth Smart’s survival and return to her family has served as a positive message of hope to many. She has used her voice for causes such as sexual predator legislation in Congress, the Amber Alert system, and the U.S. Department of Justice’s book You’re Not Alone written by Smart and other survivors of some pretty horrible stuff.
I just hope that the guy who tore this courageous girl’s life asunder is punished to the fullest extent.
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I’m so happy to see what a strong young woman she has turned out to be. I wish her all the best and I hope that the media respects her privacy after this. She’s been through enough public scrutiny for a lifetime, I think.
I couldn’t even imagine the hell she went through. Twice having to testify now with this POS in the courtroom.
Luckily the defendant sings loudly in court, and he wasn’t actually in the courtroom. He was a in a separate room and watched the testimony by camera.
I’m so glad that she is testifying. It belies an incredible strength, and I’m so glad that she holds her captor accountable for his actions instead of just letting it slip through the cracks; it seems like that happens a lot with rape and sexual assault cases.