Expert calls Brian David Mitchell delusional

Brian David Mitchell believed he had to follow the commands of God when he allegedly kidnapped Elizabeth Smart and now wants to be martyred, an expert witness testified Tuesday.

The defense in Mitchell's federal competency hearing called its first witness to the stand Tuesday, on the seventh day of a scheduled 10-day hearing.

Dr. Stephen Golding, a veteran forensic psychologist, has testified in such cases as the competency of convicted killers Ronald Lafferty and Ronnie Lee Gardner. Golding, who testified Lafferty was competent, believes Mitchell is incompetent to stand trial for kidnapping and raping Smart.

Golding said he looked at delusionality versus fundamentalism. When Mitchell experienced revelations, Golding said, they were distressing and disturbing.

"Mitchell's ego was constantly warring with what he thought he needed to do," he said. "Over time, it developed into a pretty frank delusional disorder."

Mitchell was continuously struggling with what he thought God wanted him to do compared to what he wanted to do. Golding called it a struggle between Mitchell's "carnal man and his spiritual self."

"His entire life after he became delusional is looking for signs of what to do," he said.

But that didn't mean that his delusions were constant, Golding said.

Throughout the afternoon, defense attorneys and prosecutors traded jabs at the evaluations and reports conducted by the other's expert witnesses, trying to discredit them by pointing out contradictions.

Dr. Michael Welner, the prosecution's key expert witness, and Dr. Noel Gardner testified last week that Mitchell's alleged delusions were not constant, which was part of the reason he did not suffer from a delusional disorder.

"Welner and Gardner have a Victorian view of delusionality," Golding countered Tuesday. "Delusionality waxes and wanes … it's not rigid. It's not fixed. It fluctuates. … The point is, delusionality is inside's someone's head. It's not that it shuts off."

During cross-examination, prosecutor Alicia Cook said Mitchell told Dr. Richart DeMier, the federal government's evaluator in Springfield, Mo., that he could choose to disobey God if he wanted, that God was "forgiving" and "anxious to forgive him," and that he had an "inward feeling of peace and surety" when he received revelations.