Elizabeth Smart Kidnapper Gets 15 Years

Barzee has already served nearly half her sentence
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted May 21, 2010 4:45 PM CDT
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapper Gets 15 Years
Elizabeth Smart kidnapper, Wanda Barzee, gets into a car following a hearing in federal court, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009, in Salt Lake City, Utah.   (AP Photo/Colin Braley)

Wanda Barzee was sentenced to 15 years in prison today for her role in the 2002 kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart. Barzee, who pleaded guilty in November, has spent 7 years in jail or a mental hospital during a dispute over whether she was mentally fit to stand trial, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. The 7 years will apply toward her sentence, and she has agreed to testify against her husband, Brian David Mitchell.

"I would just like to say again how sorry I am. I know the gravity of my crimes and how severe they are," Barzee said. "I'm just so sorry again for all the pain and suffering I caused on the Smart family." The apology stirred a response from Smart's mother: "Wanda Barzee, what you did to our family and to our girl Elizabeth was wrong. It was wrong and it was evil," Lois Smart said in the courtroom.
(More Wanda Barzee stories.)

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