The woman who helped kidnap Elizabeth Smart in 2002 had her first chance to sit before an officer with the parole board Tuesday and ask for her release. And if mental health experts had signed off, the Smart family wouldn’t have objected.
The chair for state prisoners sat empty as board member Angela Miklos explained that 72-year-old Barzee refused to attend. Barzee has also refused thus far to meet with a psychiatrist at the Utah State Prison, Miklos said — a mandatory requirement for parole after Barzee pleaded guilty but mentally ill to an attempted kidnapping charge in state court eight years ago.