Prosecution rests in Elizabeth Smart kidnapping trial (AP)

[Yahoo! News]

AP - Attorneys for the man accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart in 2002 are calling their first witness in his Salt Lake City trial.

Attorneys for the man accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart began building their case Tuesday, painting a picture of a deeply religious man who became increasingly inflexible and lost in his own beliefs. Witnesses told jurors that Brian David Mitchell thought the world was descending toward the final days and followed "revelations" from God to change jobs, follow an alternative medicine and travel around the country homeless to test how others would treat the poor.

"He felt that he had some kind divine mission," said Karl West, whose parents allowed Mitchell to intermittently live in their Orem, Utah, home between 1999 and 2001.

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