Attorneys push to move trial for man accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart out of Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Do Utahns have overwhelming prejudicial feelings against Brian David Mitchell, accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting Elizabeth Smart, and could an impartial jury of Utahns be seated at his trial in November?

U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball heard arguments Thursday on the defense's motion for Mitchell's trial to be moved out of Utah. He took the arguments under advisement and will issue a ruling at a later date.

Mitchell, accused of kidnapping Smart in 2002 and holding her captive for nine months, made his first appearance in federal court Thursday since he was declared competent to stand trial earlier this year. Despite the ruling, Mitchell again sang a hymn in a soft voice as he entered the courtroom and refused to stop, ignoring Kimball and his own attorneys as he has in many previous hearings. He was removed from the courtroom and put in a holding area.

Assistant federal defender Parker Douglas argued the community has strong feelings on the Mitchell case, and pointed to the extensive media coverage of the Smart kidnapping and Mitchell's state and federal legal proceedings as creating prejudice in the case.

A poll conducted by the Survey Research Center at the University of Houston in April found that 92 percent of respondents believed Mitchell was definitely or probably guilty of kidnapping Smart.

In court documents, prosecutors dismissed the survey because of "various methodological defects."

U.S. attorney Diana Hagen countered that media coverage of the event had significantly subsided to the level of a trickle since Smart went missing eight years ago, and that the media coverage had been "largely factional." In fact, she said if anything, the media coverage benefitted the defense because stories constantly focused on Mitchell's singing and odd behavior in court.

"The press has been remarkably well-handled on how it's handled this case," she said. "They've been very conscientious to both sides."

Kimball asked questions of both attorneys, at one point asking Douglas whether he believed that an impartial jury could be seated from among a population as large as Utah's.

Hagen noted that Douglas himself admitted to participating in the search for Smart and now was able to put his feelings aside to represent the man accused of taking her.

Douglas said the pressure the jurors would face from the public should also be taken into consideration. Jurors may worry how they'll be able to face the public if they acquitted Mitchell, he said.

Both sides also brought up the trial of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling. McVeigh's trial was moved from Oklahoma City to Denver.