A “loophole” in state law allowed Wanda Barzee, who helped her husband abduct 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart at knifepoint in 2002, to refuse mental-health treatment but be released Wednesday after serving her maximum sentence, says Utah state Rep. Ken Ivory. He’s proposing legislation to “close that gap.”
His bill, filed in advance of next January’s legislative session and first reported by FOX 13, would remove credit for time served from a sentence if an inmate pleaded guilty and mentally ill but didn’t accept treatment, said Ivory, R-West Jordan.
“The idea is [Barzee] gets some lesser sentence because she’s mentally ill,” he told The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday.