Relatives Defend Suspect in Elizabeth Smart Disappearance [Abuse Excuse Pt.1]

CNN Exclusive ^ | March 16, 2003 | Jeanie Meserve

[ewing]

Mitchell's father 83, described himself as a voyeur and author of two volumes about his personal theology that include explicit sexual content, acknowledged showing his son pictures of gentalia at the age of seven or eight.

The father said he believes that his erotic literature contributed to an after school episode of indecent exposure as a teenager.

A few weeks in juvenille detension, bouts with alcohol and drugs--including an LSD trip that put him in the hospital--were other contributing factors, the elder Mitchell said.

He added that he suspected that Mitchell was abused in daycare.

Calling himself 'too implusive as a parent the father catalogued early incidents in his troubled relationship with MItchell

[ewing]

Dad's a freak.. no doubt about it!

[ewing]

ping

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[D. Miles]

The whole case sounds freaky, and now we have a freak giving a freak an excuse!

[ewing]

HIs family sounds even more whacked out that Mitchell himself!

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Like father, like son.

[Mfkmmof4]

I see a "mental illness" defense coming on!

[Sunshine55]

Glen Beck said it best--we cannot build our lives on a foundation created by someone else. If our foundation is rocky we need to tear it down and build our own...this guy had the choice to do so and didn't. The old excuse "I was abused as a child" just doesn't cut it in this day in age.

[ewing]

I hope so, especially with the judge..

[Catspaw]

"Brian is the one who got that girl back safely ... Now, that's quite an accomplishment," the senior Mitchell told CNN on Saturday.

Unbelievable. The father's as twisted as the son.

[Ann Archy]

Agreed...where's the Mom? Sicko family.

[Catspaw]

The mom, I do believe, is living apart from the dad (I don't know if they're divorced). Sometime in the past year, mom ended up getting domestic abuse restraining orders against Mitchell and Barzee.

[ewing]

I couldnt believe what I was seeing as I was reading the article.

[Mrs.O'Strategery]

Mitchell's father also said, "Of course, they're continuing to say he's a monster for taking away a minor. But they have to back up a little and realize that ... [Brian's] a saint because he took care of that girl and helped her for all those months," he said.

He's a saint?!?!!

[Utah Girl]

Wow, the dad's loco.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/





"I'm A Minister For The Lord"
Last month, Mitchell told judge he lived with "wife and daughter"
MARCH 14--Claiming that he was a "minister for the Lord" living with his "wife and daughter," the man suspected of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart last month told a California judge that his February 12 arrest for vandalizing a San Diego church "was the worst night and the worst week of my whole life." Brian David Mitchell, the 49-year-old drifter who allegedly held the Utah teenager captive for nine months, claimed that, "for the first time in 22 years I got drunk that night and...the whole night was just a nightmare." Mitchell compared his one-week incarceration to "like, uh, Jonah getting swallowed by the whale."

According to the official Superior Court audio recording of the February 18 sentencing--obtained exclusively by The Smoking Gun--Mitchell told Judge Charles Ervin that his bust "turned me right around and, and I know I need to do what the Lord wants me to do with my life...I am deeply sorry and...nothing like that's going to happen again."

Originally charged with burglary in the San Diego case, Mitchell pleaded to a reduced misdemeanor charge of vandalizing Lakeside Presbyterian Church. The February bust, amazingly, was not the first time the drifter was arrested during the period Smart was missing. Mitchell was nabbed by Salt Lake City cops in late-September on a shoplifting charge, nearly four months after the girl was snatched from her bed last June.

Along with links to the audiotape itself, below you'll find a transcript of the sentencing hearing, which TSG has prepared. In addition to Mitchell--who was arrested and charged under the alias Michael Jenson--and Judge Ervin, an unidentified court clerk, Deputy District Attorney Leon Schorr, and Mitchell's lawyer, David Lamb, can be also heard on the tape. Where we've been unable to understand portions of the tape, we marked those segments with the symbol UI, for unintelligible

[henbane]

Wow, the dad's loco.

[Shirl Mitchell] also said Mitchell's sister, Lisa, should receive the reward offered for Elizabeth's return.

She's the one that turned Brian in," he said, referring to information that his daughter had provided authorities. The father told CNN that he has suggested his daughter use the reward money to hire a high-powered attorney to defend Mitchell "so that he'll get off with as little a sentence as possible."

Great!

The Dad wants the Smart family money to pay for a Johny Cochran-like lawyer so his son can skate for abducting the Smart child.

Shirl is defintely on a diet of loco-weed salad.

[happygrl]

Apple...Tree...