Smart's father still ticked off at experts

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Elizabeth Smart's father is still angry at two mental health workers who assessed Brian David Mitchell, convicted last week in Utah of abduction and rape.

Ed Smart told The Salt Lake Tribune in an interview Monday that his daughter abruptly left the courtroom at one point because Paul Whitehead, a psychiatrist at Utah State Hospital, repeated one of Mitchell's lies -- that he and Elizabeth Smart discussed having a baby while he kept her captive in 2002 and 2003.

"For nine months she had to put up with Mitchell's 'badgering lies,' " Smart said. "This time she didn't have to."

Mitchell's lawyers tried to convince the jury in U.S. District Court he was insane when he kidnapped the 14-year-old girl to make her a second wife.

Smart also blames Jennifer Skeem, a California psychologist, for changing her assessment of Mitchell in 2004. Skeem first found Mitchell was competent to engage in plea negotiations with state prosecutors and then, once the negotiations broke down, said he was incompetent to stand trial.

Mitchell still faces criminal charges in Utah, although he is still considered legally incompetent in state court.