Woman charged in Smart case expects life in prison

WEST VALLEY CITY — In letters written to her mother, the woman charged in the 2002 kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart has sought forgiveness for any pain she has caused and says she expects to spend the rest of her life in prison.

Wanda Eileen Barzee, 63, however, makes just one reference to Smart in the 12 letters obtained by The Associated Press. And she doesn't provide details about the nine months the girl allegedly spent with her and her now-estranged husband, Brian David Mitchell.

The couple are charged with multiple felonies in state court and last year were indicted by a federal grand jury.

"In one of these letters, Wanda is remembering the sins that she did," said Barzee's mother, 88-year-old Dora Corbett, who provided letters sent between July 2008 and August 2009 to The AP. "She doesn't talk about it; she just remembers them and says she needs to repent of them."

But Barzee writes of repentance only when discussing her desire to be re-baptized in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In a June 21 letter, she recounts talking to a local church leader about the steps necessary to regain her membership, which includes making a full confession.

"He knows that Elizabeth Smart and I were victims of Brian," wrote Barzee, who was excommunicated by the church in 2002.

Smart's father, Ed Smart, said Barzee may be making progress, but she's not a victim.

"They're trying to build a case of sympathy on Wanda, and I just don't have any sympathy for it," he said. "I think she has manipulated … maybe not just as much (as Mitchell), but I believe that she is very, very culpable."

Barzee has twice been found incompetent for trial and is undergoing forced treatment with anti-psychotic medications. Doctors have said Barzee was delusional and believed she was hearing messages from God through the television. She's scheduled to appear in state court for a competency review on Oct. 23.

Barzee writes of the hearing and says she imagines her social worker "has found me competent, but won't know for sure until I have been given another evaluation."

"Needless to say how nervous I am," she writes in an Aug. 11 letter. Her missives are written in small, disciplined cursive on lined yellow note paper and most are signed "Love forever, Wanda," followed by a chain of five tiny hand-drawn hearts.