FOX News -Smart Family Doesn't Want Sexual Assualt Charges Filed Against MItchells

FOX News ^ | March 18, 2003 | Shepard Smith

[ewing]

just the update

[cabin]

A friend of mine that had done time says,Child crime does not set well with inmates.He will get his!!

[GovernmentShrinker]

You forgot the part about where she loved every minute of it.

[lady lawyer]

The business about the sketch artist is just one of many pieces of misinformation that has been used to point fingers of blame at the family. At a lengthy press conference just after Elizabeth was found, the chief of police said that artist DID meet with the younger sister. More than once. But she couldn't get enough information to do a reliable sketch.

They got the child out of the house because their house was a zoo, and the parents were basket cases. They had been advised that, if they wanted the little girl to remember anything, they should keep her in as calm an environment as possible. Too much talking to her could plant "memories" in her mind that wouldn't otherwise be there.

As it happened, after a long enough period of time had passed that the family was apparently settling down, the little girl said it "might" have been a guy named "Emmanuel" that had been at the house months before the kidnapping. At that point, the police artist did come in, interviewed three different family members who had seen Emmanuel on the day that he worked there, and got three different pictures. The police were reluctant to release the picture(s) for fear of getting a lot of false leads.

The family decided on one picture as being the most accurate, and released it, along with the name "Emmanuel," after the police balked. The picture showed that Mitchell was clean shaven and had a normal haircut when he was at the Smart's. And it didn't really look very much like him. But Mitchell's stepchildren recognized the name, and immediately came forward to help the police, and give them pictures of Mitchell in his "prophet" outfit.

You know, these cases seldom proceed in a straight line. There was never anything to point a finger at the Smart family. But people have seized upon every little inconsistency as evidence of some kind of guilt on the part of the family. I just don't get it.

[bonfire]

I pray the woman gets hers too.

[ml/nj]

DON'T lecture me about "not pressing charges."

Why not?

You're advocating it, aren't you?

ML/NJ

[nicmarlo]

The parents have some oddities (but then, so do I; I mean, lots of people think it's weird that I enjoy spending so much time on FR--we all, however, feel it's very normal). Aside from the normal oddities (what an oxymoron), I do agree, Elizabeth's parents have some unusual quirks....but I do believe, without a doubt, they are good parents who love their children, very much.

[StriperSniper]

He will get his.

And his, and his, and his.......

[stlnative]

They wanted it this way only to protect Liz and not the 2 animals that took her. Now she will probably have to placed on the stand and give a full account in detail of what these 2 animals did to her. They have enough on both of them to put them both away for the rest of their lives without adding in the sexual assault. He is pushing 50 and she is pushing 60 in age.

[RJayneJ]

One of my first thoughts was, what if they don't have enough evidence to prove the kidnapping case? Sex would never be allowed to be mentioned in front of a jury. I think the DA has to charge rape.

[nicmarlo]

I said:

If she [ELIZABETH] pressed charges, the defendant has the right to defend himself against those charges; his attorney would have the right to ask Elizabeth ANY QUESTION HE WANTED, and have the right for ANSWERS WITH SPECIFICITY. She's only 14....why put her through this???? I wouldn't to either of my daughters.

You said: You're advocating [not pressing charges], aren't you?

Yes, with ELIZABETH. You went from my statement about THIS CASE to GENERALIZING TO ALL CASES. Talk about needing to connect the dots....you should learn some logic.

[Nita Nuprez]

You forgot the part about where she loved every minute of it.

How could I have forgotten that part? Thanks. Of course she enjoyed it. Otherwise she would have flipped him over her shoulder with a karate move and swiftly done a LorenaBobbit on him.

As a matter of fact, I think that's definitive proof that she feels nothing but absolute derision for her family.

[yooper]

What the hell is up with her father? I am admittedly not completely up to date with this story, but is it me, or do her parents seem to be showing more compassion toward her kidnappers than to their own daughter?

If this were my little girl I'd be look for Emmanuel's schnads on a platter....

[Chancellor Palpatine]

I'm pretty sure that this family isn't doing what they need to be doing - because I would think a competent counselor would discourage them from the staged shots, the "everything is wonderful" public statements, and anything which brings further focus on this.

I've said for a while that this family did half the kidnappers job for him by conditioning the girl in a very fundamentalist view of mormonism - and my gut is telling me that they're relying on their religion again to make everything perfect again. They're expecting God to restore this girl's psyche, naivete, and innocence, and want Him to make everyone forget - but they're making yet another foolish error.

I'm not happy, but they will pay a price in terms of their relationship with Elizabeth - if not now, then a few years from now. Playing ostrich is nice, but sometimes, you have to gain street smarts. If they're still in that home, they need to move out quietly. Duck the press. Keep the cameras away.

[PoisedWoman]

. She can't will it away and it wasn't her fault. By fighting it in court she can prove to herself that it wasn't her fault. Sexual assault victims, especially young ones, often erroneously feel guilt.

Agree and agree. Facing him down in court and tearing into him for explicit sexual crimes would give Eliz satisfaction and power. On the other hand, having her story exploited by Ho-wood seems like another rape to me.

Though "empowerment" is usually a hollow word, in this case it has great significance. This girl was held against her will, powerless. These creepy perps need to understand that women and girls will stand up and fight back.

I know of a case that was resolved when a four-year-old testified and sent her grandfather to jail....he'd been molesting two generations of daughters and granddaughters. Papers were already filed (copies at Drudge link)_ charging Mitchell and Barzee with sexual assault. I believe it's a done deal. Closer to trial date, Liz may want to confront those criminals. Every word she utters against them in court will add another year to their life sentences.

[Arkinsaw]

Something here ain't right.

I'm about tired of the "smell test". Smell tests, hunches, funny feelins seem to be all over these Elizabeth Smart threads. How many funny feelins and hunches did we have about Ricci? Lots. How many smell tests did brother Tom Smart fail? Lots. There were funny feelins about that guy who was in the hospital when they found him. A few months later its the dad who fails the smell tests.

Probably best to let the courts do their thing instead of arbitrary sniffing.

[dalebert]

Elizabeth is going to live with this the rest of her life. But the press will never understand.

[plain talk]

Based on what? An obvious rationale is maybe they don't want to put their daughter through more hell and think the kidnapping charges alone will put them away for life. I don't know if this is true or not. But it makes a heck of a lot more sense than your made-up suspictions.

[VRWC_minion]

This is one of the reasons for statutory rape. No child should have to go throught an adult rape trial.

[leslie_is_cooking]

First, if my daughter is missing, then I would use one of the premier sketch artists in the country--one that the FBI still calls even though she works privately, no matter who I thought might get a "scoop." After all, getting this info out to the public is the idea isn't it?

Secondly, the youngest girl was made initially available but only for a short time. Even the FBI spokesperson after they were called in spoke publicly about how difficult it had been to speak to the girl because the parents were not making her as available as the FBI had wanted.

Third, I have now heard the father, an uncle, an aunt and a couple who were so close to the family as to be considered family, bring up in interviews the sexual assault aspects of the case. References were vague--of course, but nonetheless, if they are indeed concerned about minimizing publicity, they bring their "concerns" directly to the police and the DA, not through the media.

Fourth, I don't know what vested interest you have in this, but the obnoxious tone of your reply made it obvious you do have one. If you would like to further discuss this case, the facts as they are and not as you want them to be, we can take this to private replies so that we don't waste other Freepers' time.

[sjersey]

go to TheSmokingGun.com to read the filed charges.