Life term for Elizabeth Smart kidnapper

SALT LAKE CITY, May 25 (UPI) -- The Utah man who said he was divinely instructed to take young wives was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for kidnapping and raping Elizabeth Smart.

Brian David Mitchell sat singing hymns through most of the hearing, the Deseret News reported. He did not look at Smart when she spoke to him.

"I don't have very much say to you. I know exactly what you did, and I know that you know what you did was wrong and you did it with a full knowledge of that," she said. "I want you to know that I have a wonderful life now. No matter what you do, you will never affect me again. You took away nine months of my life that can never be returned. But I know that in this life or the next you will be held responsible for what you have done and I hope you're ready for that when it comes."

Smart, 23, was 14 when Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, abducted her from her bedroom in June 2002. She was kept as Mitchell's second wife, living with the couple in an encampment and traveling with them to California.

Mitchell, 53, was a homeless street preacher at the time. His trial was delayed for years by questions about his competency.