"I don't know how long it can go on," he said of the legal proceedings. "It just seems indefinite. We just take things one day at a time, and we'll see what happens. Every time you think something might happen, it doesn't."

Smart doesn't have a lot of confidence that either Mitchell or Barzee will ever be found competent by the court. However, he has his own beliefs about their competency, especially Mitchell's.

"I don't believe he's incompetent. But I don't have a lot of hope things will change from where they are," he said. "Whether Wanda is force-medicated or not, I don't believe she'll be changing. I don't have a lot of hope medication will change her views. We believe they knew exactly what they were doing. They don't have regard for our laws. I've never heard a word of remorse from them."

Elizabeth Smart, meanwhile, is also moving on with her life. She's a music major at Brigham Young University and practices her harp four hours each day, her father said. Her hardest class is a music sight-reading class, which at one point prompted her to inform her father, "Dad, I'm not going to get straight A's," Ed Smart said.

But, he added, even if Elizabeth doesn't earn straight A's, she's still doing exceptionally well.

"She is really trying hard. She's really putting the time into doing well," he said.

Should a day come, however, when Elizabeth is called to testify against Mitchell or Barzee in court, Ed Smart said he doesn't believe his daughter would be afraid to once again face the man accused of kidnapping and assaulting her.

"If she ever goes to court, to trial, I believe she will let him have it with both barrels," Smart said. "If he ever came after her again, she would let him have it. She would not put up with him in any way, shape or form. She would not put up with him for a minute."

While Elizabeth does not dwell on her ordeal "at all," according to Ed Smart, "She wouldn't feel sorry if (Mitchell) was put into the general population at the prison."

When, and if, the case ever reaches that point is one of the biggest unanswered questions in the ongoing saga.

"This case will always be about justice," Morgan said. "Justice can only be achieved when it comes to a reasonably speedy conclusion. As long as the case evades a final criminal resolution, justice is denied, and the prosecution will always be seeking deliberate and speedy justice."

---

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com