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Amy Sancetta / AP file
Sam Mullet outside his home in Bergholz, Ohio, on Oct. 10, 2011.
Prosecutors will begin arguing their case Tuesday in the federal hate-crime trial of an Amish leader and 15 followers accused of forcibly cutting the beards or hair of their religious enemies last fall.
A jury was selected on Monday for the case being heard in U.S. District Court in Cleveland, The Associated Press reported.
Samuel J. Mullet Sr. and his co-defendants, all but one of them relatives, face charges of conspiracy, kidnapping, hate crimes and obstruction, "because of actual or perceived religion" of the victims, according to an affadavit.
Sixteen men and women are accused in three separate attacks on nine people. Mullet, 66, is accused of being the ringleader of the assaults although authorities say he was not present during any of them, according to Reuters.
Prosecutors will seek to show that Mullet had cult leader-like control over the members of the Amish clan who allegedly engaged in the attacks.
Some of the alleged victims are parents of some of the suspects, highlighting a bitter dispute within the Amish community, which is normally known for its pacifism.
Federal prosecutors say the attacks were revenge in a dispute between Mullet — leader of a group of Amish in Bergholz, Ohio, that had separated from the larger Amish community 17 years ago — and other Amish bishops, according to an FBI affadavit.
A gathering of 300 mainstream Amish overturned Mullet’s decision to excommunicate eight families after they left his clan in 2005, prompting Mullet and his followers to launch the attacks, the affidavit said.
In the forcible cutting of the victims’ hair and beards with 8-inch horse mane-cutting shears, some of the victims were wounded and bloodied, the affidavit said.
In Amish culture, men’s beard hair and women’s head hair have religious significance.
If convicted, Mullet could get life in prison, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.
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Even the Amish are losing it now?
Do they go "low ride" on their buggies and get some rims?
Santa Claus was excused from the jury pool.........
Cullero, maybe!
I'm surprised they didn't flip out in jail so far! (Maybe they have!) Bad time to be part of a group that has no electricity and therefore .... no house arrest ankle bracelets.
Do they have to bring the defendants to court in a horse drawing buggy?
It's pretty sad I agree..
Even those who claim to be so separated from society so that it does not influence they way they live are falling apart. How terrible.
They'll get off on a technicality because they weren't properly Miranda-ized: "Thou hast the right to remain silent. ....."
"Clop-clop-BANG-clop-clop-BANG-clop-clop-BANG!"
The sound of an Amish drive-by shooting.
Not a hate crime, but a "hair crime".. Funny the guy's name is "Mullet"
Actually they allowed electric to be put in their home so they could do the ankle bracelet. They can ride in a vehicle, you can take your tractor over and plow their fields and while roofing you house they will charge all their batteries for their power tools. They don't care to use it they just won't buy it.
Why should money be spent on these people by putting them in jail? Make them do community service far from their homes and work on farms without paying them and make them sleep in the barns. Too much time and money has been spent on this nonsense.
They should just do what Romney did, laugh about it and blow it off as a silly prank
The fact that the defendant's name in yet another hate crime hair-cutting case is *Mullet* is silly enough w/o bringing Romney's *boyish hijinks* into it.
Besides, Romney plied a pair of scissors, not Ann's dressage horse mane-cutting shears like Mullet did. Not remotely similar :P
It was a crime but hardly a hate crime worthy of life in prison. What's that? Ohio has Prisons for Profit? Oh, that explains the draconian sentences and vigorous prosecutions there's a corporate profit involved....
This must make Romney a bit jittery, since he did the same thing to a classmate. As I learned, this type of thing, NitMitt, is assault and battery. It appears that even the ultra-religious fanatics cannot get along. What hope is there for the rest of us. God does not wave magic wands or swoop down out of the clouds to referee either.
They would serve their time in federal prison since it a federal charge being brought against them.
Maybe they should also investigate the claims of rape within many Amish communities. They aren't what they appear.
TCHH - - maybe they should, although I'm not sure who 'they' are.
The sad part? Even if rapes in the Amish community were proven, the sentences would be a joke compared to what these people are looking at if found guilty. The fact these are considered 'hate crimes' makes the sentencing, etc lots more serous.
These people are using religion to hide behind, like fundamentalist Mormons are about arranged marriges to child brides, and abuse of women. How sad!
Is it me or does it feel the case is blowing out of proportions ? Facing "charges of conspiracy, kidnapping, hate crimes and obstruction". Next time you are off to the barber's shop, don't forget to bring witnesses with you
puric, This is on the news alot in here in Ohio. This guy went way out there towards a cult like group and really does not represent the Amish people. Mr Mullet and his sons broke into a mans house after a feud and cut his beard alongs with wifes hair. He is also accused of raping the wives within his clan.
Sound familiar? Kinda like Jim Jones and the Hale Bop nut but just wearing Overalls. They expect to get a life sentance. Not a good person, I would have shot his @ss inside my house.
Punic - seems that way, but who knows? I can't see how this is a hate crime & therefore rolling around in our federal courts.
Judge gonna say, " Bailiff, wack them hinnies !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Absurd follows Absurd !!!!
I would think that for most of us it looks like overkill but you have to remember that to the Amish, their hair and beards are sacred. On top of that, someone forcibly entered their house and held them and their children captive while they cut the hair. Most of us would kill someone for forcing their way into our houses, much less holding our children captive while they did anything. So, I think that this is a problem that would probably increase in scope if the law hadn't stepped in. Someone has to stand up to the gangs...be it a gang of Amish or not.
More confused than an Amish electrician...
Good thing we have hate crimes now. This guy could get life.
Meanwhile gang members who chose to brutally assault a beat a stranger half to death on the street generally get 1 or 2 years for simple assault.
See how backwards that is?........any libs out there seeing a problem here.
yup I sure do....This country if f-ed up and its not only the Teawackers but the GOP..But then I have to say its the Democrap also...People kill other people and get 20 years to life you kill someone of known value and you get death.. I guess if your Black , Hisp, or just a plain old white person you ain't worth sh*t. I just don't understand a life is a life if your a Christain or Muslim heck even a moman knows that.
Your point is a good one. Why is the crime against a person in Group Whatever more serious than a person not in that group?
That's our Congress in action, penned into law by our President.
B/c there are far more crimes committed purely b/c of who ppl in those grps are. These crimes are committed b/c the criminals decided they didn't like where you went to church, who you slept w/, what color your skin was, or in which country you were born.
You should at least be acting like a provoking @!$%# in order for some guys to decide to kick your ass. But doing so totally unprovoked, just b/c you came from China, or were Native American, or were having sex within your own gender, or went to Mass on Sunday....nope, doesn't fly as a defense & is based upon unreasonable hatred.
And these crimes were & still are so common, these grps merit special protection under the law for being victimized by them.
Do you even know who was the president who signed & in the Congress who passed the 1968 Civil Rights Act?
That was the *original* law making it a crime to commit a crime against someone based on their religious beliefs....which is what Mullet did.
That was a different president & Congress.
That was the one that, for the 1st time, incl crimes against the GLBT community as hate crimes. Also a different president & Congress.
Do YOU even know who was the President who signed the Civil Rights Act of 1875? let alone 1964?
the civil rights act of 1968 main concern was treatment of Native Americans.
There oughta be a law...it's never been we have too few laws....it's always been about IF and HOW the law is ENFORCED.
This generation thinks they are better than their fore fathers, when in fact their great-great great grandparents were every bit as good if not better than them as human beings.
Its really hard to take a comment seriously when the commenter cannot spell words like "group" "people" or "with".... No matter how much is italicized...
O, I'm so sorry, SoFlaGirl, does the sight of my disability offend your eyes?
Then pluck them out.
And they say NYers are rude.
Woooah, nelly. Calm down there, scar. No need to tell anyone to pluck their eyes out. Violence promotes violence!
Also, I was unaware that stupidity is a disability. Thanks for the heads up!
I may have missed something, but when did abbreviations become misspellings?
Didn't Mitt Romney do this to someone?
Am I the only one who finds it very funny that the man accused of cutting off hair and beards is a guy named "Mullet"?
I was reading the comments to see if I would be the only person to mention this.
Yea, there's DEFINITELY some irony involved here!!!
Yeah I say that too.
Didn't Mitt Romney do this to a guy?
Evan11113 - how many times are you going to post the same thing? Another thing lots don't know about the Amish - they are some of the worst puppy-mill offenders in the US. They consider dogs as livestock & treat them as such....killing when they can no longer bring in money by breeding. Horrible.
If it is true that some Amish are running puppy mills then they should be severely punished. Castration would be too good for them.
but they make a damn good pretzel.mmmmmmm
Yes, Evan, he did. But apparently that is ok....he called it a "childhood Prank" when he and a group of his friends ganged up on another guy they didn't like, held him down, and butchered his hair.
But IOKIYAR.
Having a rich daddy doesn't hurt, either.
Or having Daddy get you a real Michigan State Trooper's uniform in which you can dress up to play further *pranks*, either.
It's that kind of boyish hijinks that leads one to a dissipated life of hosing dog diarrhea off the windows of one's station wagon after one has scared the @!$%# out of the dog.
But at least he wasn't running a puppy mill. It was an adult dog.
And Mitt the Dog-Whisperer can commune w/ animals, b/c he claimed the dog liked being tied to the roof of the car for hrs at highway speed.
So sad he doesn't have that talent when it comes to not whispering to the media about state secrets whilst on foreign trips. Or insulting an entire country b/c only Mitt knows how to run an Olympics.
As he was multitasking by cheating on his tax returns claiming a Utah residence when he was trying to run for gov of Massachusetts.
I guess that state that didn't want to see his birth certificate wouldn't have him.
Ever notice how Romeny's just one big loop-de-loop once you get going? :-D
Why has this became a Mitt topic?
Punishment should be a shave, haircut,bath, brush their teeth with an electric toothbrush.__Then make them watch a girliee movie. I notice he wears glasses--technology is OK for some things, but not for everything? Wonder how they sort that out.
georgethetroll
Eye glasses have been around since around 1300. Not exactly modern tech. Galileo used glass lens in the late 1500's and Ben Franklin was known to wear them in the late 1700's. Just don't ask them to zip it as they generally use buttons.
People have worn glasses before electricity so I don't think that would count. It isn't a luxury either.
They will use gas motors to dry corn, but not electric. They will ride in a non Amish owned car, but not own one.--list goes on
Didn't Mitt Romeny do this to a guy?
Evan does have a point. What Romney did was exactly what these people are accused of yet he faced no charges and this guy faces life. Kidnapping and cutting the hair of a gay guy isn't a hate crime but doing that to Amish people is?
That's right he did pin some guy to the ground and cut his hair off didn't he. I'm not sure it was technically a hate crime though. I thought it was because he didn't like the guys hair style. Not that it makes it OK. There was some reports it was because the guy was gay although I'm sure he would never admit that.
Technically when Romney did it, it wasn't yet a hate crime. Altho *gender* was added to the protected against hate crimes list in the 1990s, it was only 3 yrs ago that it was redefined to specifically mean members of the GLBT community.
It certainly, however, was probably battery at the least in the 1960s. But you know those prep schl kids. Dad's always got a fat wallet to make these irksome little things go away.
All religions who are ritualistic zealots have 0 tolerence for anyone but their own kind. The ten commandments of God have given humanity a standard of behavior not the big bang. Unfortunately people crave to exercise power over others and invent religious rituals to accomplish this. As a result we have a world history replete with violence. There is no need for organized religion. Adherence to the 10 commandments will result in a wonderful civilization that humanity would be proud of.
Yes their religious practices are a bit out there.. Some christian and some pagan all rolled up..
Mikey
I have to agree with you. I think a persons belief does not have to be clouded by others and it should not be influenced by a church looking for donations so they can have a huge brick building with a copper roof and a gold cross!
Mikey; couldn't agree with you more. To quote Jessie Ventura, "organized religion is a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers."
All religions are cults to one degree or another. Part of the reason for this is that they attract a lot of followers who are not mentally stable to begin with.
Yeh, right. NOT. Looks like you need to just flap your gums.
All religions are cults, a cult being a group holding the same ideology... Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts could be considered a cult.
Actually there were 15 commandments to start with, but Mel Brooks dropped and broke one of the stone tablets leaving only 10.
That is funny George but the movie was funnier
Oy...
I guess I will bite!
Evan you are a worthless troll. You have the intellect of a 6 year old!
What a terrible thing to say about 6 year olds.
You're right William!
I apologise to all the six year olds except for evan!
Why is he a troll? Because he questions why the guy running for president gets to walk scott free for something someone else is facing "charges of conspiracy, kidnapping, hate crimes and obstruction, "? Sounds like an intelligent position to me. The six year olds seem to be you two.
Sounds like high school.
No, because he keeps asking the same question like little kids do. "Are we there yet?"... "Are we there yet?"... "Are we there yet?"...
Evan probably just got the notorious *bubblegum* glitch & doesn't realize you need to refresh the pg to see if it actually did go thru b4 trying to re-post. It only appears as tho he's asking it a million times b/c his posts are no longer together b/c ppl replied in-btwn them.
Inflammatory. Not allowed under CoH. That's called a personal attack. Don't. Click the ! icon & report inflammatory posts. If enough ppl do it, the offender gets a nice suspension :-D
@ Scar - I would accept that if he had just posted a "Whoops" reply to his other two posts. It seems a little strange to post that question more than once and make no other reply at all. I'm not saying it couldn't happen but it seems strange.
Religion is source of hate. My imaginary being is better than yours. You don't pray to my imaginary being correctly. I guess "shunning" or not speaking to each other was not severe enough.
Once again, zealots using violence as a means to their ends. But hey, how is this any different from the nut jobs in Afghanistan, Iran or other parts of the world where religion preempts a civil society. Just another example of “Christians” not being very Christ like. So typical.
How is it different?? Well they are not blowing people up. C'mon guy that's a pretty lame comparison.
Batini
I would agree with you. If, there were not so many threats on here. About civil war. If the Christians, don't get their way, in November.
I have read more than, just a few threats of that. If Obama, is re-elected, Plus an official, claiming, the same thing.
Makes me think of them. As something different. Than what they profess to be.
The next time a muslim blows up 50 people or stones a woman to death for not wearing a veil the defenders of Islam can now point to the Amish as well as Christians that are also clearly evil. They'll go back hundreds of years to find Christian atrocities and I'm sure this will now be brought up as well.
Oops, didn't see Toms post. They're already at it. I can't even imagine how these peoples minds work.
Tnis is just a perfect example of why I don't buy into any oranized religion...Momma Rose hit it right.....jail that dude and call it a day
the guys name would have to be mullet haha, and as far as romney anything is better than what we have now!
john h: That what I was thinking about the name. Made me LOL.
So why are we using tax dollars to take to court those who don't pay taxes?
yup, sounds about right
hair cut - life
rape , murder - 5 to 10
Good points! Talk about absurd!
The whole Hate Crime law & the thinking (?) behind it are a waste!
You wouldn't think so if you were a member of Matthew Shepard's family.
These @!$%#s ought to be chaged w/ hate crimes, too.
Has the hate crime thing been around for a long time or is it more recent?. What happened to the ole crime is a crime?. If a man kills his wife because he now hates her, is that classified as a hate crime?. The hate crime thing seems weird.
I agree. If you hurt / kill me, is it that big of a leap to think you might also have hated me??
A "hate crime" makes any crime against someone in a specific group more horrible than if you're only in the group called "humans."
Tip your hat to our Pres for signing this BS into law!
hate implies anger.what if people do it for the fun of it?
1968.
It is if the sole motivation is your race, religion, country of origin, or sexual orientation.
Which president are you tipping your hat to, exactly?
There have been 3 versions, ea redefining its predecessors, in the last 46 yrs.
If you're tipping it to Obama, his sign-off didn't add in the religion bit, which is what this particular case is using. You should be tipping it to LBJ for the original version.
Even more reason to put them away for life, b/c they've shown they're very sick mother@!$%#ers.
It's about time we stopped idealizing the "peaceful" Amish. They may refuse to fight in wars, but they're regular human beings, not that different from the rest of us crass, ordinary folk.
Amish on Amish crime.....such a national tragedy.
Lol!
Sam Mullet sounds like he is the Amish version of Charles Manson!
Old Sam Mullett took the scissors
And told the neighbor, "Now you'll get yers"
When the missus said, "Get out, you knaves!"
He turned around and cut her waves.
A HATE CRIME?!?! Are they kidding?
Gee. How many people were robbed, beaten & murdered in the greater Cleveland area alone in the last month or so? Guess those crimes fall under the new "non-hate law" law.
If you've never heard of the "non-hate law" law - it's hot off the Congressional press & lawyers are foaming at the mouth! The new law really helps people that commit crimes against people they feel "non-hate" toward get what they deserve!!! (Twice the jail time & 10x the expense to each citizen.) Marvelous!
If I was on the jury I probably wouldn't go much beyond assault. Six months sounds appropriate.