Mitchell, Barzee back in court in December

It's been more than a year since Brian David Mitchell was last seen in public, being led out of court by bailiffs following yet another tirade.

Next month, the two defendants in the highest profile kidnapping case in Utah history will each make a return to the courtroom, marking what is expected to be one of the most active months the 3-year-old Elizabeth Smart kidnapping saga has seen in some time.

Mitchell and his estranged wife, Wanda Barzee, were indicted by a state grand jury Sept. 4, 2003. They were charged with aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated sexual assault, two counts of aggravated burglary and conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping.

Prosecutors say the couple kidnapped Smart from her Salt Lake home in June 2002 and held her hostage for nine months while living like vagabonds, traveling from Utah to San Diego and back before they were spotted in Sandy and arrested.

Barzee was ruled incompetent to stand trial Jan. 9, 2004. Today, doctors at the Utah State Hospital say they have tried every option to restore Barzee's competency except anti-psychotic medication, which she refuses to take because she does not believe she is mentally ill. Over the past two years of court hearings involving Barzee, doctors have testified that she has such outlandish beliefs as:

• Mitchell was given "keys to the kingdom" by former LDS President Ezra Taft Benson, thereby establishing Mitchell as "head of the church."

• She had a relationship with Johann Sebastian Bach in the pre-existence, and he attended one of her organ recitals.

• She was instructed by God to get the answers to her prayers by watching movies on television.

"I do not believe myself to be mentally ill or infirm or incompetent in the eyes of the Lord," Barzee wrote in a 2004 statement.

The Utah Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on Dec. 6 on whether Barzee can be forcibly medicated for the purpose of making her competent to stand trial. It is believed to be the first time the state's highest court has ever taken such a case.

The defense claims 3rd District Judge Judith Atherton's decision to allow forced medication was wrong because there was no evidence to show anti-psychotic medication would have any effect and may, in fact, have the opposite effect on Barzee by causing her more harm and distress.

Defense attorneys David Finlayson and Scott Williams further point to a recent case in New York in which a judge ruled that a woman who believed she was an angel and who had been declared incompetent to stand trial could not be forcibly medicated.