No mistrial in Elizabeth Smart case

SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Defense witness in the Salt Lake City trial of the man accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart testified Tuesday the defendant appeared as normal as anyone.

Dru White, a mission president who asked defendant Brian David Mitchell to be one of his high counselors in late 1987 or early 1988 said Mitchell was clean-cut and married to Wanda Barzee, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

"He seemed to be very eager to do a good job. He was quiet. He didn't talk a lot," White said.

Following White, the defense called Merlin Douglas "Doug" Larsen, who worked nearly 29 years at OC Tanner, spending some of that time alongside Mitchell, the report said. Larsen said his conversations with Mitchell were as normal as he would have with any other employee.

Both Larsen and White depicted Mitchell as sincere about his Mormon beliefs.

But Larsen said Mitchell could also convincingly play Satan as a church actor, the (Salt Lake) Deseret News reported.

Earlier Tuesday, a federal judge refused a defense request for a mistrial.

Lawyers for Mitchell argued jurors should not have been told he was suspected of sexually molesting other children, the Tribune reported. U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball disagreed.

Mitchell was moved out of the courtroom Tuesday because he persisted in singing Christmas carols.

FBI Agent George Dougherty, the final prosecution witness, concluded his testimony Tuesday. The allegations of Mitchell's earlier child abuse came up in a video of Dougherty's interrogations of Mitchell.

Mitchell allegedly abducted Smart, then 14, from her bedroom and held her for nine months, forcing her to be his second wife. His lawyer plans to argue he was mentally ill.

Dougherty said he spent six to eight hours questioning Mitchell in four sessions. He said Mitchell did not strike him as crazy.

"I could ask him specific questions, unlike the mentally ill people I dealt with where there was not a conversation," Dougherty said.