Feds want to retest Mitchell

Brian David Mitchell, accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart, needs to be given a psychiatric evaluation in a federal facility outside of Utah, according to prosecutors.

Friday, the U.S. Attorney's Office filed its reply to its motion for Mitchell to have a competency hearing. The government's original motion requests that Mitchell be given a mental evaluation away from the Beehive State. Mitchell's defense lawyers last week filed a response saying that Mitchell's competency hearing should be held once again at the Utah State Hospital where doctors were more qualified to make an assessment.

In his reply Friday, U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett Tolman noted the doctors who evaluated Mitchell for his state court competency hearing came up with results that were both conflicting and that by now were "stale."

Furthermore, Tolman argued it was "improper" for the court to "rely exclusively on a state court's adjudication of competency."

"This court should give little weight to the state record in this case and order a new competency evaluation because the prior state evaluations produced conflicting results and were conducted more than four years ago," he said in his reply.

Mitchell was examined by two doctors for a mental competency evaluation in 2003 and a third in 2004. Because of the amount of time that has passed, Tolman argued in court documents that the prior evaluations were "no longer reliable."

As for the location of another competency hearing, Tolman argued there was no provision that allowed a defendant to be placed in a non-federal facility, such as the Utah State Hospital, and doing so was "impractical" and would require the court to incur unnecessary expenses.

Furthermore, Tolman argued that Mitchell's stay at the state hospital hadn't done any good because he had refused to participate in any treatment.

"Mitchell's refusal to cooperate for the last four years also suggests that any further evaluation in that setting is likely to be fruitless," the documents state. "Mitchell may well benefit from a change of environment and an evaluation by a fresh set of eyes will provide the court with a more reliable assessment of his current mental state."

Mitchell's next scheduled hearing in federal court is Nov. 12, at which time U.S. Magistrate Samuel Alba is expected to rule on the government's motion. If he is sent to an out-of-state federal facility for an evaluation, the evaluation would take about 30 days, according to court documents.

Mitchell and his estranged wife, Wanda Barzee, are accused of kidnapping Smart in 2002 and taking her to California before returning to Utah where they were arrested nine months later. Barzee was determined in state court to be mentally incompetent to stand trial and ordered to undergo involuntary medication.

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