SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A former street preacher sentenced to life in prison for the 2002 kidnapping and rape of Elizabeth Smart will not appeal his conviction, concluding a case that riveted the nation and focused attention on child abduction.
Lawyers for Brian David Mitchell, 57, could not elaborate on his decision, Robert Steele, Mitchell's federal public defender, told The Associated Press on Monday, the deadline for filing an appeal.
Steele has maintained that Mitchell, who disrupted daily court proceedings with hymn singing, is incompetent and could not participate in his own defense. Jurors rejected the insanity defense, saying that he knew he was breaking the law.
Messages left for the U.S. attorney's office in Salt Lake City and for Smart's father, Ed Smart, were not immediately returned.
A federal jury in December unanimously convicted Mitchell on one count each of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines for the purpose of illegal sex. Mitchell was sentenced in May to two life sentences.
Mitchell's former stepdaughter, Rebecca Woodridge, said she was not surprised by Monday's decision.
"That's what he told me," said Woodridge, whose mother was married to Mitchell for a time in the 1980s. "He says he's just ready to move on and do God's work somewhere else."
Woodridge, who has visited Mitchell in jail almost weekly, said he remains steadfast in his belief that he did nothing wrong by taking Smart because he was acting on a command from God.
"That's never changed," Woodridge said.
It was not clear when Mitchell would be moved to a federal prison.
The decision against an appeal brings to a close a nine-year saga.
On June 5, 2002, Smart, then 14 years old, was kidnapped at knifepoint from her Salt Lake City home. The disappearance led to a massive search across Utah for the blond-haired, blue-eyed girl.
Smart, now 23, testified during the five-week trial, calling her kidnapping "nine months of hell."
Smart said that within hours of the kidnapping she was forced into a polygamous marriage with Mitchell and raped. She said she endured daily rapes, lived homeless and was forced to use drugs and alcohol.
Mitchell, who outlined his religious beliefs in a rambling 27-page manifesto he called "The Book of Immanuel David Isaiah," took Smart to California for five months.
Held captive for a total of nine months — for a while in the hills above her family's home — Smart was found in March 2003 after motorists spotted her walking with her captor on a suburban Salt Lake City street.
At sentencing, Smart told Mitchell that despite his horrific acts, her life was now "wonderful" and that he could never hurt her again.
Last week, ABC News announced it has hired Smart to work as network commentator on child abduction and missing persons cases. She's also a music student at Brigham Young University and expected to graduate next year.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
