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Updated April 10, 2003, 10:47 a.m. ET

Elizabeth Smart kidnapping suspects to get mental evaluations

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A judge on Wednesday ordered the vagabond couple charged with kidnapping Elizabeth Smart to undergo mental competency evaluations.

The order came after defense lawyers said they didn't object to videotaped examinations for self-styled prophet Brian Mitchell, 49, and his wife, Wanda Barzee, 57.

The judge appointed two mental health experts for each defendant. The evaluations, which could take up to two months, will determine whether they are fit to stand trial.

Mitchell and Barzee are charged with burglary, kidnapping and sexual assault for taking the 14-year-old from her bedroom last June and keeping her for nine months in Utah and California. Barzee has told police that Mitchell took the girl to be his second wife.

Each is jailed on $10 million bail.

Mitchell, whose polygamist writings have become a focus of the case, is accused of abducting Elizabeth at knifepoint and sexually assaulting her in the hills behind her home.

He, Barzee and the girl were found together March 12 in a Salt Lake City suburb.



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