Kavanaugh nomination in limbo
Wanda Barzee had been expected to serve several more years, but Utah officials said earlier this month that they miscalculated the amount of time she should serve.
Barzee’s husband Brian Mitchell took Smart from her home at knifepoint on June 5, 2002. Smart, 14 at the time, said she was raped every day, and sometimes more than once a day during the nine months she was held.
Mitchell is serving life in prison, but the 72-year-old Barzee was able to get a plea deal from prosecutors and avoided a longer sentence. She was released from Utah State Prison on Wednesday after serving 15 years behind bars.
Smart criticized officials for letting Barzee out of prison, saying she believes that her captor is still a “threat.”
She said in an interview that aired on CBS Newson Wednesday that Barzee was required to write an apology as part of her plea deal.
“But it was just a very brief, ‘I’m sorry for what I’ve done, the end,’ kind of thing,” Smart told CBS News. “I don’t think you can just kidnap a 14-year-old girl and, you know, not only sit by her while she’s being raped but encourage the rapist to continue …. Then just at the end of it say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and really mean it.”