Brian David Mitchell, the homeless street preacher convicted of kidnapping Smart, sang a hymn and gently rocked in his chair as Elizabeth's father Ed and then Elizabeth herself took turns addressing him. "I don't have very much to say to you," Elizabeth Smart began. I also want you to know that I have a wonderful life now." You did it with full knowledge ... but I have a wonderful life now and no matter what you do, you will never affect me again. "You took away nine months of my life that can never be returned," she continued. You will have to be held responsible for those actions, whether it's in this life or the next, and I hope you are ready for when that time comes." Mitchell's sentencing closed a major legal chapter in the heartbreaking ordeal that stalled for years after he was declared mentally ill and unfit to stand trial in state court. A federal jury in December unanimously convicted the 57-year-old of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines for sex. Outside the courthouse, a beaming Smart, now a Brigham Young University music student, told reporters that the sentencing "is the ending of a very long chapter and the beginning of a very beautiful chapter for me." Today's proceedings are part of a final chapter in a story that began in the early morning hours of June 5, 2002, when a 14-year old Smart was kidnapped at knifepoint from her family's Salt Lake City home. The massive search to find the blond-haired, blue-eyed girl riveted the nation, as did her improbable recovery while walking with her captor on a suburban Salt Lake City-area street on March 12, 2003. During the four-week federal trial last fall, Smart testified that she endured "nine months of hell" that started when Mitchell forced her to become one of his wives. She was tethered to a metal cable strung between two trees and subjected to near-daily rapes while being forced to use alcohol and drugs. U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball said Mitchell deserved a life sentence because the facts of the case were "unusually heinous and degrading." "I felt like hope was walking out the door," Smart testified. Though Smart testified at Mitchell's trial, she never addressed him directly then because he was removed from the courtroom each day after singing hymns to disrupt the proceedings. Nearly nine years after being kidnapped and held in a state of sexual slavery she describes as "my nine months of hell", Elizabeth Smart addressed her former captor face-to-face in a packed Salt Lake City courtroom, just moments before he was sentenced to life in prison. Smart said she recently completed a mission for the Mormon church and plans to continue working as a child advocate to help stop and prevent kidnapping and sexual abuse. Barzee eventually pleaded guilty to her role in the kidnapping and in May 2010 was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Woodbridge said she talked to Mitchell Tuesday and asked if he had anything to say to the public.
– Brian David Mitchell got a life sentence today for kidnapping Elizabeth Smart, but she got the last word in court. Confronting him for the first time, she kept it short and sweet: "I don't have very much to say to you. I know exactly what you did. I know that you know what you did was wrong. You did it with a full knowledge. I also want you to know that I have a wonderful life now. You took away nine months of my life that can never be returned. But in this life or next, you will have to be held responsible for those actions, and I hope you are ready for when that time comes." Mitchell did not appear to look at her during her statement, notes ABC News. He just kept rocking in his chair and singing to himself. Click for more details.