Barzee strikes plea deal in kidnap case

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Elizabeth Smart kidnapper Wanda Barzee pleaded "guilty but mentally ill" to an unrelated Utah abduction charge Monday, attorneys said.

Defense attorney Scott Williams said Barzee's plea deal came in connection with a July 24, 2002, incident in which Barzee's husband, Brian David Mitchell, allegedly attempted to kidnap Smart's cousin about seven weeks after the Smart kidnapping, The (Salt Lake City) Deseret News reported.

Williams said Barzee pleaded "guilty but mentally ill" to one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping, a second-degree felony in the case. In November, she pleaded guilty to federal charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor in connection to Smart's abduction.

"It's a global resolution. It shouldn't be considered separate from her federal case," Williams told the News.

"She did admit her guilt in the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart," Salt Lake County Deputy District Attorney Alicia Cook added.

Street preacher Mitchell, 56, and Barzee, 64, were accused in the kidnapping of Smart, then 14, in June 2002 from her Salt Lake City home. They were arrested in March 2003 while walking with the young girl in Sandy, Utah.