Expert Sees Psychosis in Kidnapping Suspect
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The man accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart has shown signs of psychosis since middle adolescence, when his family rejected a psychologist’s recommendation that he receive treatment for mental illness, a mental health expert testified in Salt Lake City.
Stephen Golding’s testimony came on the second day of hearings to determine whether Brian David Mitchell was mentally competent to stand trial on charges that he kidnapped the then-14-year-old at knifepoint in 2002 to keep her as his second wife.
At issue, in part, is whether Mitchell, 51, holds extreme religious beliefs or whether he is clinically delusional.
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