FBI Source: Elizabeth Smart Was Married to Drifter

MSNBC ^ | March 13, 2003 | Ashley Banfield

[ewing]

breaking now..

[Devil_Anse]

This so-called "marriage" is invalid for so many reasons, they are almost too numerous to list!

But those who know me know that I'll plow right ahead anyway!

1. One must consent to be married. It's a contract. She was being held captive. This puts a serious dent in any contention that she consented.

2. Mitchell may not have even been legally divorced from the previous one of his many previous wives. If you're broken up with your spouse, you can't remarry unless you have a piece of paper that says "Judgment of Divorce." Even then, some states have a waiting period between the time the divorce is final and the time when you can marry again. I doubt Mitchell even got to the point of having a judgment of divorce.

3. Although people can obviously get married in their religion's ceremony (and are not required to duplicate the ceremony with a justice of the peace), still, the religion has to be recognized in some official way, and the celebrant also has to have some legal status which allows him to perform a marriage. Neither of the above applies to Mitchell or his so-called "religion."

4. A small matter, but where's the license? The license, btw, is different from the actual marriage certificate.

5. As far as I know, even if Mitchell had had legal recognition as a person who could perform marriages, the celebrant can't marry himself to someone. Sort of like, if you're a notary, you still can't notarize your own affidavit.

6. A legal marriage requires witnesses. This might be a curable defect, like the license thing, but still, it is just one of the many holes in the supposition that she was "married" to this psycho.

7. Are we entirely sure that Mitchell, sanity-wise, was himself competent to enter into a contract, such as marriage? Who knows but that he has been declared "non compos mentis" by some probate or other judge?

[Elsie]

We've alREADY got a 'feud' going on this thread!

[cherry]

"I think this case is a huge failure of the SLC police and the FBI."

I do too.....

[cherry]

"MK said knife all along, we know now. Police put out the other story."

back up that story, please...

[spectre]

So many questions, Krodg.

cherry, you had to know someone would suggest that the gun story was manufactured to throw off the real abductor! Why? Gulp.

IN which made for TV movie did we see that ? LOL.

sw

[PISANO]

The machinations developing about the SMART case in particular and ALL nationally televised "FAMILY" tragedies, in general, is the MAIN reason why I would NEVER.....repeat, NEVER give an interview to ANY media forum or agency, if something like this ever happened to my family. I include Airline crashes as well. Nothing involving the media would EVER have my cooperation or approval.

[SarahW]

Which part -

[Sacajaweau]

Pretended to be asleep?? Then she got up and watched Emmanual as he looked into her brothers' room and then went back to bed???????

[Sacajaweau]

How come the family JUST put this guy's face out and VOILA, he got caught. They knew about him from the beginning and could give a composite very early. He was known all around the town just a few miles away. Everyone says he was weird and so many people saw them and even photographed them, it's pathetic. The parents didn't consider him??? They were depending on a nine year old to make the decision??

[Krodg]

Pretended to be asleep?? Then she got up and watched Emmanual as he looked into her brothers' room and then went back to bed???????

Lately I have seen a lot of reports that said she pretended to be asleep and I didn't know that she got out of bed. I admit to not carefully reading Spectre's article...I was just posing a question to a friend. I made a mistake..Sorry!!!!

[Sacajaweau]

The mother, in a live interview last night, relayed the story of the sister getting up and watching them...etc.

I had more questions AFTER the interview about things that didn't quite jive.

[FITZ]

I know ---but I would hope my own kids would try to escape as soon as they had an opportunity ---it's very sad that this little girl stayed instead of escaping. There are stories of other kids who did escape ---even when there was risk to them by getting away. I'd rather my kids be like the latter rather than this girl who stayed even when she could have left.

[FITZ]

And this man walking around SLC in a turban, with a veiled woman and girl, didn't raise any suspicions. If that isn't police failure, I don't know what is.

Even where I live there are once in a while people around who walk around looking weird, I've seen them but I never called the police and I doubt the police would arrest them just for wearing turbans, veils, or other weird clothes. We could make all weird religions forbidden and arrest all who don't dress normal ----I don't know how the police can be blamed exactly.

[Joy Angela]

Yes, he could help with that.

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[Krodg]

Now that I have admitted my total ignorance and apologized, do you mind if I ask another question?

Police reiterated their description of their suspect: A white man, 30 to 40 years old, 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10, medium build, with dark hair and hair on his arms and back of his hands. He was wearing tan pants, a Polo brand shirt, dark shoes, a lighter jacket and an "English-style" driving hat. He held a small, dark handgun.

If he was wearing an "English-style" driving hat, why does the sketch show him with short wavy hair? It almost sounds like they knew who he was and pulled up an old picture of him and went from there. Sure doesn't sound like the reports of him from people who had seen the weirdo around town.

[Palladin]

Agree on all points, DA.

That is a stupid headline on this thread.

In no way shape or form was this a marriage.

The girl was abducted at knifepoint by an evil pervert, who formerly sexually abused his two stepdaughters.

It was a felony kidnapping, aggravated by numerous felony rapes.

Have FReepers gone absolutely mad to want to give this evil criminal some kind of a defense for his immoral illegal brutal criminal acts against Elizabeth Smart?

Surreal! I feel like I'm on the Salon/NAMBLA threads here.

[tracer]

Tens of thousands of brave men and women serve in police departments across the nation and in so doing provide a modicum of safety through patrol activities and responding to crimes both in progress or recently committed.

Many crimes are solved through "good old shoe leather" investigations and increasingly sophisticated electronic and forensic technology.

However, many crimes remain unsolved and too many persons are convicted of crimes that they did not commit.

Both the Elizabeth Smart case and that of the "Washington DC Sniper" -- not to mention so many other criminal cases -- were "cracked" by observant and civic-minded private citizens, while police agencies for extended periods of time variously bumbled and bungled under the watchful eye of an increasingly cynical public.

Such leads me to suggest that there exists a basic and serious flaw our sytem of criminal investigation.

While I do not wish to impugn the efforts of our law enforcement agencies, it would appear that a systematic examination of the specific capabilities, training, and career path of those who rise through the ranks to become criminal investigators ("detectives").

I have known several individuals, a number of who continue to be friends, who chose to pursue a career in law enforcement. Virtual all of these individuals are of impeccable character and integrity and sincerely wish to serve and protect their fellow citizens.

However, the majority of these folks, as well as police officers with whom I am acquainted or familiar with, do not enter the police academy sufficiently educated or intellectually prepared to carry out activities which require a high level of analytical ability and the capacity for scientific, legal, and deductive reasoning. Nor do they have the interest, aptitude, confidence, and desire and ability to seek out and complete further training in such comlex disciplines as psychology, other social sciences, biological and physical sciences, information technology, and other fields of knowledge relevant to criminal investigation.

After a few years of patrol duty, police officers typically decide, or not, to strive to earn a detective's shield. They prepare for and take qualifying examinations, are evaluated on their performance as patrol officers -- who in fact most often are involved on a non-independent role in various activities related to criminal investigations conducted by detectives - and are selected for detective position on the basis of their peformance, conduct, and, for good or ill, their skill in "fitting in" and "getting along" with both their superiors and their peers.

If such be true, it seems unlikely that, for a variety of reasons, the current situation ever will be addressed with any degree of success. Issues of morale, organizational management, recruitment and retention, discipline, etc., etc. likely never could be overcome.

In ideal world, at least two career paths of relatively equal desirability could be established in departments and agencies across the country; namely patrol/tactical and investigative/analytic.

The former would include those professionals with skills, aptitude, and physical ability to conduct patrol, enforcement, arrest, and related activities - including surveillance and SWAT functions.

The latter would be peopled by individuals with various amounts of experience and advanced levels of education (up to and including the doctoral level), knowledge, aptitude, and intellectual capacity relative to activities that involve information acquisition and analysis, inductive and deductive reasoning, scientific and forensic analysis, psychological profiling, interviewing and interrogation, intereaction with the media and with prosecutors, other legal/paralegal professionals, area experts and consultants, and professionals within national and international law enforcement organizations.

A third, "hybrid" career track could be home to the traditional "detectives" who now constitute the basis of the criminal investigative labor force in the US. Pay and prestige for those within each career track would commensurate with attendant levels of personal risk, physical and mental qualifications and effort, relevant education and training.

Such would do much to expand the potential pool of individuals whose specific capabilities could be effectively applied to the tremendous challenge of law enforcement in this country.

Finally, determined and potentially qualified and capable individuals with necessary and appropriate qualifications acquired while on the job could be able to move from one career track to another -- within the limits of age and the ability of a given professional to acquire and maintain the necessary qualifications.

The foregoing sea-change might well be applied to Federal law enforcement agencies as well, but that's a discussion for a different day.

The challenges facing the society and the criminal justice establishment of today comprise an "apples-and-oranges" reality that must be addressed on the basis of specific capabilities and functions of those who serve and protect……

[Iwo Jima]

Elizabeth just admiited she was forced into a polygmous relationship..

I know that that is what the article says, but does that sound like Elizabeth's words to you? A "polygamous relationship"? I would be willing to bet that she said spmething like "we were married." I don't think that she said that she was forced (how do you force someone to be married?). If it had said that Eliz. said that she was forced to pretend that they were getting married, that I could imagine. But not this.

[Mihalis]

I am not suggesting that they should be arrested on the spot, just because their appearance was weird. But a competent police force should be able to discreetly investigate and follow up any such suspicious sightings, especially when everyone is on the alert to find the missing girl.

[NautiNurse]

I believe that if the young woman in the scarf had truly not been Elizabeth Smart--those persistent police officers would have faced harrassment charges from the likes of the ACLU.

Meanwhile--as several have indicated before--our society has changed to one of tolerance and blindness. We do not know our own neighbors anymore. We have come to expect police officers to know our neighbors better than we do. Perhaps our expectations are skewed.