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Prosecutors dropped a bombshell in the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case today, revealing Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Eileen Barzee were indicted by a state grand jury last September -- a document that has remained secret until it was unsealed this morning.
Prosecutors declined to give their reasons for asking for a grand jury indictment, a rare move in state court.
But the indictment means Mitchell and Barzee are not entitled to preliminary hearings, said Salt Lake District Attorney David Yocom. Such hearings are usually a first look at the state's evidence for defendants and the public.
The indictment means Elizabeth Smart will not have to testify at such a public hearing. Nor will anyone she spoke to about the kidnapping have to testify about details of the case at this stage of the prosecution.
Although the indictment was unsealed, everything else about the grand jury proceedings including the identities of witnesses and jurors is permanently sealed.
Elizabeth's attorney, Gregory Skordas, has repeatedly said he thought it unlikely Elizabeth would have to testify at a preliminary hearing. Skordas has said that a therapist who taped an interview with Elizabeth could testify for her.
But the therapist's testimony would still have revealed details of the nine months Elizabeth was held hostage details that would have been broadcast nationwide.
Now there is little chance Elizabeth will have to testify until and unless there is a trial.
Trial dates could be set in Mitchell's case at a scheduling hearing set for tomorrow. Attorneys have refused to comment on whether there have been plea negotiations.
Barzee has been found incompetent to stand trial and is doing a one-year treatment stint at the Utah State Hospital.
The six felonies in the grand jury indictment are identical to the March 2003 charges brought by prosecutors against Mitchell, 50, and Barzee, 58.
Yocom said the indictment -- unsealed Wednesday by 3rd District Judge Pat Brian, who presided over the 15-person grand jury -- will take the place of the original charges.
Prosecutors allege Mitchell and Barzee kidnapped Elizabeth at knifepoint from her Federal Heights home on June 5, 2002, and held her hostage for nine months.
The indictment also alleges Mitchell and Barzee attempted to kidnap Elizabeth's 15-year-old cousin from her Salt Lake County home on July 24, 2002.
Mitchell allegedly believed he was fulfilling a prophecy from God that he would take seven plural wives.
Yocom said state grand juries are rare in Salt Lake County. He recalled a grand jury was convened in 1995 to examine the murder case against Forrest Whittle for the slaying years earlier of Lisa Strong, who was fatally shot near her Sugarhouse home in 1986.
Prosecutors said then they used the secrecy offered by the seldom-used grand jury process to protect the identity of witnesses against Whittle, who was later convicted by a jury of murder.
In 1986, Salt Lake County prosecutors used the grand jury process to obtain a felony indictment against then-Salt Lake County Attorney Ted Cannon in connection with allegations of sexual harassment.