The gavel comes down on Brian David Mitchell ...

 Brian David Mitchell is escorted into the Frank E. Moss Federal Courthouse Wednesday, May 25, 2011, in Salt Lake City. Nearly nine years after she was taken at knifepoint, raped and held captive, Elizabeth Smart is set to publicly confront her kidnapper for the first time, when Mitchell is sentenced. (AP Photo/Jim Urquhart)

Published on May 26, 2011 09:30AM 0 Comments

Question:
Should this be called the Mitchell Case or the Smart Case?
In the past, the families of some crime victims have objected me when their name is attached to an utterly awful event, no more than a tag on State's Exhibit A, when they were not to blame for any of it. Others are pleased that their loved one is not forgotten.
What do you say?
In the meantime, an editorial:
- Mitchell sentence: At long last, justice - Salt Lake Tribune Editorial

Brian David Mitchell is going to federal prison for life. U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball’s sentence is a just punishment for Mitchell’s kidnapping, rape and torture of Elizabeth Smart, a nine-month ordeal that began in 2002. In a sense, that nightmare ended Wednesday in a Salt Lake City courtroom.

As we observed when Mitchell was convicted by a federal jury in December, there is little doubt that he is mentally ill. From the outset, the key questions in this case have been whether he was ill to the point and in a way that he could not distinguish right from wrong, and whether he was unable to understand the charges against him and assist in his own defense.

The judge and jury have answered those questions, first with Kimball’s ruling last year that Mitchell was fit to stand trial and second with the jury’s guilty verdicts. The sentence that follows is just because it holds Mitchell accountable and protects Elizabeth Smart, her family and the greater community from the possibility that he will ever be released into society again.