Smart's Co-Abductor: 'I Am So Sorry, Elizabeth'

Barzee expected to serve another 9 years in prison
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 17, 2009 1:53 PM CST
Smart's Co-Abductor: 'I Am So Sorry, Elizabeth'
Brian Mitchell, left, and his wife, Wanda Barzee, in 2003.   (AP Photo/Salt Lake County Sheriff, File)

A woman charged in the 2002 kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart pleaded guilty today as part of a deal with prosecutors and asked Smart to forgive her. Wanda Eileen Barzee is expected to receive a 15-year sentence, with credit for about six already served. "I am so sorry, Elizabeth, for all the pain and suffering I have caused you and your family," said Barzee, 64. "It is my hope that you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive me."

Smart, now 22 and preparing to serve a mission in Paris for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was not in court. Barzee pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor and will cooperate in the case against her husband, Brian David Mitchell. They kidnapped Smart when she was 14 and held her for 9 months. (More Elizabeth Smart kidnapping stories.)

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