Amish beard-cutting trial

[Ultonius]

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ss ... _attr.html

Amish beard-cutting trial attracts international attention, pitting law of God vs. law of man
Published: Monday, August 27, 2012, 6:00 AM Updated: Monday, August 27, 2012, 8:59 AM
James F. McCarty, The Plain Dealer By James F. McCarty, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The law of God will collide with the law of man this week in a crowded federal courtroom in Cleveland, where 16 Amish defendants -- 10 men with full beards, six women in white bonnets -- will stand trial on charges related to a series of beard- and hair-cutting attacks against fellow Amish men and women last year.

And the world will be watching.

The case has attracted national and international attention, in part because of public curiosity about the normally reclusive and peaceful Amish community, and because of the peculiar nature of the alleged crimes.

Interest also has been heightened by the fact that the federal government rather than a local prosecutor brought the charges. The case is the first in Ohio to make use of a landmark 2009 federal law that expanded government powers to prosecute hate crimes.

Then there is the prospect of witnesses providing salacious testimony about an Amish bishop providing sexual counseling for married women while forcing other members of his flock to sleep in chicken coops.

Jury selection begins today and the trial is expected to run for three weeks before U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster.

The defendants include an Amish bishop, 66-year-old Samuel Mullet Sr., and 15 of his followers, who broke away from the placid Holmes County Amish community 17 years ago and established a new clan of about 125 members near the hamlet of Bergholz in the verdant hills and valleys of Jefferson County.

Mullet's devoted followers revere him as a modern day Moses who rules his flock with a righteous, iron fist, according to court documents and interviews with neighbors. The father of 18 children, he also is a multi-millionaire who has received more than $2 million for oil fracking rights to his 800-acre farm.

In Mullet's world, the word of God provided the imprimatur for him and his followers to punish enemies as he saw fit. That included cutting their beards and hair -- a humiliation more dreaded in the Amish religion than being "beaten black-and-blue," one of the victims said.

"The beard for Amish men is a symbol of their adult manhood," said Donald Kraybill in an interview last year with National Public Radio. Kraybill is a professor at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania and an Amish expert who is scheduled to testify for the prosecution at the Mullet trial.

"So to cut their beard is an assault on not only their personal identity but also on their religious identity and their religious faith," Kraybill said.

In the eyes of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office, Mullet and his followers are a band of renegades waging hate crime attacks motivated by cruelty and retaliation against their enemies. Cutting beards and head hair causes "disfigurement" -- an essential element of a hate crime, according to prosecutors.

But what federal prosecutors call hate crimes, punishable by life in prison, Mullet calls an exercise of his religious freedom. God's will allowed him to mete out punishment as he saw fit, he said, giving him the power to shame and punish people who ostracized the Bergholz clan and who defied his laws.

Mullet denies having ordered the beard-cutting attacks, "but I didn't tell them not to," he said according to an FBI affidavit quoting an Associated Press story.

"You have your laws on the road and the town -- if somebody doesn't obey them you punish the people," Mullet said in the affidavit. "But I'm not allowed to punish the church people? I just let them run over me? If every family would do just as they pleased, what kind of church would we have?"

Mullet's bishopric also gave him the authority to discipline church members who misbehaved by forcing them to sleep in a chicken coop for days on end, and the power to engage in sexual relations with married women to "cleanse them of the devil," according to an FBI affidavit.

Although Judge Polster has banned prosecutors from calling the Bergholz clan a cult during the trial, the prosecutors have made it clear they believe the word applies to Mullet's zealous followers. They cite the tremendous authority Mullet exerts over members of his Amish sect, and have included veiled references to David Koresh and Jim Jones in court papers.

"The government's greatest concern remains the defendant's ability, upon release, to retreat into his 800-acre spread, surrounded by his family members and devoted followers ... and resist law enforcement efforts to ensure his appearance at trial," Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Getz wrote.

"The evidence has demonstrated that this defendant and his followers have not embraced the traditional Amish principles of non-violence and forgiveness. The possibility of a violent encounter, this time with law enforcement, should not be readily dismissed," Getz wrote.

Those concerns were fueled by Mullet's own words after three of his son's were arrested for beard-cutting attacks last October. In a secretly recorded phone call from the Holmes County Jail, Lester Mullet told his father he was concerned his children might be taken from him.

"Samuel Mullet Sr. responded that somebody will 'get killed' before that happened," according to an FBI transcript of the conversation.

Mullet's lawyer scoffs at the prosecution's portrayal of his client.

"They're trying to create this perception he's something he's not," said defense attorney Edward Bryan. "He's not a wacky cult leader. He's a decent, hardworking, caring man."

But in 2005, eight families -- including one of Mullet's sons -- chose to break away and move to Amish enclaves in different counties rather that submit themselves to Mullet's strict and sometimes violent discipline.

Mullet responded by shunning, and later excommunicating, all members of the departed families from the church. After a conclave of 300 mainstream Amish church leaders met in Pennsylvania to address Mullet's practices, a seven-member committee investigated and overturned Mullet's excommunication orders.

That decision infuriated Mullet, and launched the beard- and hair-cutting attacks -- some of which were directed at members of the Amish investigation committee, according to an FBI affidavit.

Some of the victims were elderly. Several were wounded and bloodied with the eight-inch horse mane-cutting shears, according to the affidavit. When one of the victims pleaded with the men and women not to cut his beard, he wondered how Amish Christians devoted to peace and brotherhood could wage such an attack on a fellow church member.

"We are not Christians," Johnny Mullet, one of Sam's sons, responded, according to the FBI.

There have been a lot of articles about this case since the arrests last Autumn, but this is a recent article that I feel covers the basic facts. It's an extremely unusual case, since I've never heard of this kind of physical violence between Amish groups before. No matter how the defence tries to spin it, I don't think they're going to be able to get round the main problem that this kind of retaliation against a perceived slight goes directly against mainstream Amish belief. The Dordrecht Confession, the main statement of faith for most Anabaptists, speaks directly against taking revenge.

XIV. Of Revenge

As regards revenge, that is, to oppose an enemy with the sword, we believe and confess that the Lord Christ has forbidden and set aside to His disciples and followers all revenge and retaliation, and commanded them to render to no one evil for evil, or cursing for cursing, but to put the sword into the sheath, or, as the prophets have predicted, to beat the swords into ploughshares. Matt. 5:39, 44; Rom. 12:14; I Pet. 3:9; Isa. 2:4; Micah 4:3; Zech. 9:8, 9.

From this we understand that therefore, and according to His example, we must not inflict pain, harm, or sorrow upon any one, but seek the highest welfare and salvation of all men, and even, if necessity require it, flee for the Lord's sake from one city or country into another, and suffer the spoiling of our goods; that we must not harm any one, and, when we are smitten, rather turn the other cheek also, than take revenge or retaliate. Matt. 5:39.

And, moreover, that we must pray for our enemies, feed and refresh them whenever they are hungry or thirsty, and thus convince them by well-doing, and overcome all ignorance. Rom. 12:19, 20.

Finally, that we must do good and commend ourselves to every man's conscience; and, according to the law of Christ, do unto no one that which we would not have done to us. II Cor. 4:2; Matt. 7:12.

The use of corporal punishment against members and what has been described as 'sexual counselling' of married women is also strongly contrary to standard Amish practice, and lends credence to the allegations that Mullet has turned his church district into a cult. Since a bishop can only be 'silenced' or removed from office by the members of his church district, not by other bishops, a particularly charismatic bishop like Mullet can enforce his will on his followers unhindered.

PS: Before anyone points it out, yes, I'm aware of the 'irony' of people named Mullet being involved in a case of hair-cutting.

[General Zod]

This seems simple enough to me. Throw him away for multiple counts of assault and potentially rape.

[Ultonius]

This seems simple enough to me. Throw him away for multiple counts of assault and potentially rape.

For whatever reason, he isn't being charged with sex crimes, and the sexual allegations are apparently only being raised to demonstrate the power he had over his followers in order to prove he ordered the attacks, which he was not personally involved in. At least some of these 'relationships' do seem to have been coercive:

Amish women 'coerced into sex'

(UKPA) – 1 day ago

An Amish bishop accused of orchestrating hair-cutting attacks in Ohio coerced women at his settlement into having sex with him so he could turn them into better wives, one of the women told a court.

The woman said what started out as hugs turned into kisses and then sex, saying she resisted at first.

"He would say things like, 'I can't understand why you won't obey me, the other ladies can'," the woman said. "I always gave up. I was afraid not to."

Prosecutors say the alleged sexual "counselling" of married women shows the control Samuel Mullet had over followers at the Amish settlement he founded two decades ago.

The 16 people accused of carrying out the hair-cutting attacks last year all lived on Mullet's settlement in eastern Ohio near the West Virginia panhandle.

The US government contends that the hair cutting was motivated by a religious dispute between Mullet and other Amish bishops who had sought to limit his authority. Those accused of planning and taking part targeted the hair and beards of the Amish because of its spiritual significance in the faith, prosecutors said.

Mullet has denied any involvement. His defence lawyers had tried before the trial began to bar any evidence about the alleged sex "counselling." They argued that there was no proof of such sexual conduct and that mentioning it would be highly prejudicial.

US District Court judge Dan Polster told jurors after the woman took the stand that Mullet was not charged with any sex crimes and that they could only consider the evidence as it related to charges in the indictment.

The woman said her husband had a mental breakdown in the summer of 2008 and was in hospital when Mullet suggested that his trouble stemmed from dissatisfaction with his marriage.

The woman and her husband soon left the Amish settlement where they had raised their children and moved to Pennsylvania. "We just took our children and a few suitcases with our clothes," she said.

Copyright © 2012 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

[Broomstick]

Part of the reason he's not being tried on rape charges is the reluctance of the Amish victims to come forward. There has been violence among the Amish before, up to and including murder, but it is far, far less common than among the general populace. The Amish preference is to handle problems within their own communities as much as possible, generally involving outsiders only when the trouble comes from outside or they can no longer handle it themselves.

The Amish don't have mainstream values. I can't speak for them directly, but it is conceivable that an Amish man would feel more mental trauma from a forced hair/beard cut than a severe beating. It's not quite the same as actual castration of course, but beards for Amish men are so iconic that there is a definite element of unmanning the victims, even if the beards are going to grow back. I have to wonder if that's part of the reason this is in court. Rape can be hidden, a bare chin not so much.

[loomer]

Yeah, with the Amish a forced beard cutting would be a fucking horrifying experience. It'd be equivalent to attacking a man in a deeply committed, for-life marriage and taking not just his wedding ring, but also the fingers it's attached to while simultaneously shaming him in front of his family and friends.

[Ultonius]

This picture has been entered as evidence in the trial, and appears to show Johnny Mullet, one of Sam Mullet's sons, attacking Raymond Hershberger, then 76, one of the seven bishops who overturned the excommunications, and is believed to have been taken by Eli Miller, another of the attackers. Quite apart from the humiliation due to the religious and marital signifance of beards among the Amish, as mentioned by Broomstick and loomer, the photo highlights how alarming the violence of these attacks must have been, especially to an elderly man like Mr. Hershberger.

[Broomstick]

Just in case anyone isn't clear on the subject, the Amish are extreme pacifists. They completely oppose violence even in self-defense. Not even to save a life. The victim in the picture was taught from infancy never to physically harm another human being, never to raise a hand to another in anger, and thus would have absolutely no self-defense skills whatsoever. Clearly the attacker shows that some Amish are able to overcome that training and prohibition, but it just makes it all the more shocking and disgusting.

[Rogue 9]

It's also extremely odd that they would possess and use a camera.

[DPDarkPrimus]

It's also extremely odd that they would possess and use a camera.

What sort of technology is and is not forbidden for the Amish to use varies from community to community, and amongst who is the current leader of each community - I've heard that Amish communities that own power tools will hear they are forbidden by the new leader, and so will diligently put them away in storage so that when the next leader says they are okay they can get them out again.

[Ultonius]

Just in case anyone isn't clear on the subject, the Amish are extreme pacifists. They completely oppose violence even in self-defense. Not even to save a life. The victim in the picture was taught from infancy never to physically harm another human being, never to raise a hand to another in anger, and thus would have absolutely no self-defense skills whatsoever. Clearly the attacker shows that some Amish are able to overcome that training and prohibition, but it just makes it all the more shocking and disgusting.

While this is true, I understand that disciplining children by spanking is fairly common among the Amish. Sam Mullet may have taken that concept and twisted it to convince his followers that corporal punishment of adults both inside and outside the congregation was necessary for their own good.

The defence is claiming that the attacks were related to family disputes, and therefore cannot be described as religiously-based hate crimes.

Defense: Kin spats led to Ohio Amish hair attacks
JOHN SEEWER, Associated Press
Updated 1:52 p.m., Tuesday, September 4, 2012

CLEVELAND (AP) — Hair-cutting attacks against people in Amish communities outside the city were tinged with squabbles over money, child-rearing and even the way some women in the conservative settlements dressed, more like a family feud than a series of hate crimes, say attorneys for members of a breakaway group accused of carrying them out.

The defense attorneys, while not denying that the hair-cuttings took place, want to convince jurors that religious differences between the Amish were not the motivating factor and that the attacks didn't amount to amount hate crimes — the most serious charges against the 16 defendants.

Prosecutors say the defendants, who could face lengthy prison terms if convicted, planned or took part in at least one of five attacks last fall, cutting off Amish men's beards and women's hair because they carry spiritual significance in the faith.

The trial, which began last week in federal court, is expected to last two or three weeks, with testimony resuming Wednesday.

A few of the defense attorneys acknowledged last week that their clients participated in the hair-cuttings and deserved to be punished but maintained that the Amish have a closed society and are accustomed to handling their own problems. Some said the defendants had become concerned that their estranged family members and others were straying from their religion and took action to get them back together.

"They will take upon their selves to correct others' behavior," attorney Brian Pierce told jurors. "Some of the things they do may seem strange to us."

The attorney for Sam Mullet Sr., accused of being the group's ringleader, says the intent wasn't to hurt anybody.

"What he's saying is these are personal, family disputes," attorney Ed Bryan said during opening statements.

In what prosecutors say was the first attack, six siblings and their spouses hired a driver and traveled for two hours to an Amish settlement in Bergholz, a small village 80 miles southeast of Cleveland. The group took off their father's hair and beard and then took off 2 feet of their mother's hair, one of the participants testified last week.

Nancy Burkholder, who received immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony, said she and her five brothers were upset with their parents after they moved out of the settlement led by Mullet. She said they wanted their mother and father to see their mistakes "to help get them to heaven."

Burkholder said she and her husband lost their farm after her parents, Marty and Barbara Miller, refused to sign refinancing papers. She also accused her father of belittling her brothers and scolding her for wearing two colors, something that's frowned upon by some conservative Amish groups.

Barbara Miller denied that her husband had been a bad father. She said she and her husband decided not to help Burkholder and her husband with financing their farm because they felt their children had fallen under the control of Mullet and were behaving as though they were in a cult.

"We want them to have an eternal home," Miller said. "That's why we did not sign those papers."

Mullet has said he didn't order the hair-cuttings but didn't stop people from carrying them out.

It's impossible to know at the moment whether Nancy Burkholder's claims about her parents are true, or simply an attempt to justify her actions, or a bit of both. If they are true, it makes me wonder if Mullet deliberately tried to attract people to his settlement who had poor relationships with their families, or were otherwise alienated from the wider Amish community in Ohio. If they aren't true, it may mean that Mullet has deliberately tried to poison his followers' relationships with their families in order to gain more control over them. He appears to be been involved in breaking up the marriage of one of his daughters because her husband wanted to leave the community.

Amish beard-cutting attacks uncover suspected cult
By Chris Welch, CNN

Bergholz, Ohio (CNN) - Aden Troyer hasn't figured out precisely how he'll tell his daughters – now 4 and 5 years old – why they're growing up without a mother.

"I've kind of held back a little bit because they are so young, and I do not want to depress them," he said from his home in north-central Pennsylvania.

Troyer, his ex-wife, Wilma, and their two children are part of the Amish faith, which includes living a simple life free of the conveniences of the modern world, like electricity and motorized vehicles.

But what happened to the Troyer family is anything but simple.

Troyer believes that he and his wife were lured into a cult made up of breakaway members of the larger Amish community near Bergholz in rural eastern Ohio. He said it was – and still is – ruled with an iron fist by his former father-in-law, Sam Mullet, a man who Troyer and others say is anything but a typical Amish leader.

They say Mullet has created rules and punishments for breaking those rules that Amish folks had never heard of before.

The Amish typically resolve disputes within their community without the interference of law enforcement. But they say Mullet takes this to a whole new level.

"The way he's been treating and talking to people, he is not an Amish guy," Troyer said. "He is not your typical peaceful, loving Amish person."

Troyer said he eventually realized what he was getting caught up in and moved away from Mullet's compound, along with his two daughters.

There's a problem: Wilma did not. Three years after their marriage in 2004, the couple divorced, and Troyer received full custody of the girls.

Mullet's name emerged recently after several Amish-on-Amish beard-cutting attacks, in which most of the perpetrators are believed to be followers of Mullet's breakaway group.

Last week, the FBI announced that it was investigating the incidents to determine whether any federal laws had been broken. No further details were given.

Local law enforcement officials and members of the Amish community believe Mullet has created a cult and is singlehandedly responsible for orchestrating the beard-cutting incidents and other crimes in recent years. Mullet has not been charged with any crimes.

To get Mullet's side of the story, I would travel to his rural Ohio compound, an hour's drive from the nearest city of Steubenville. But before getting to Mullet, I heard accusations, first hand, from the people who were once close to him.

An Amish 'cult'

Just before 11 in the evening on October 4 at a farmhouse outside the rural Ohio community of Carrollton, Myron and Arlene Miller heard their doorbell ring.

Myron Miller crawled out of bed, unsure of what he'd find.

A group of men armed with scissors and battery-powered clippers attacked Miller, holding him down and cutting out a chunk of his beard, according to the Millers and law enforcement.

Arlene said that when it was over, her husband's beard was "about 4 or 5 inches" shorter.

The attackers targeted Miller's beard because, as a member of the Amish community, it is a significant symbol of his faith.

Arlene says the men attacked her husband because he had helped one of Sam Mullet's children leave his Amish sect.

"(These men) knew he was suspicious," Arlene recalled, "and just like that, just so fast, (one of them) grabs for his beard and starts pulling on him to pull him out the door."

Five men were arrested in the attack, as well as another incident earlier in the day, according to Jefferson County Sheriff Fred J. Abdalla. Four of the five suspects are related to Mullet, including three of his sons.

Additional arrests aren't likely because only two of the four victims of the attacks since early September - including Myron Miller - are pressing charges, Abdalla said.

Going against the Amish tradition of solving conflict through their church, Arlene Miller says, she and her husband decided to report the crime to police because they hope to prevent other people from being hurt, including Mullet's followers, who "need help."

"There's a lot of lives being messed up down there. There's a lot of people being abused and brainwashed," she said.

Mullet's sect is made up primarily of his relatives living on and around an 800-acre compound in a remote valley outside Bergholz, Ohio, according to the sheriff.

"They (have) titled themselves the 'Bergholz Clan,' " Abdalla said. "It's a cult."

Sam Mullet is the undisputed leader of this group, according to the sheriff.

"When I tell you nothing moves out there unless he says it moves, that is the case," Abdalla said. "Everyone takes their marching orders from him."

Abdalla says he fears that this "cult" could come to a dramatic demise, as others have.

"If I were to get a call right now telling me, 'Sheriff, they're all dead in the community out there,' it wouldn't surprise me," he said.

"That's the power and control that he has over those people, because if he were to tell them right now to drink this poison Kool-Aid, they would do it."

'We're locking our doors'

Abdalla has seen a lot in his 27 years as sheriff, but he says the stories he's heard firsthand from inside Sam Mullet's compound are the among the most bizarre.

One came from a man who said Mullet put him in a chicken coop for 15 days in the dead of winter over a religious disagreement. The victim would not press charges.

"He was convinced that (Mullet) was doing him a favor," Abdalla said. "That's like me hitting you in the head with a two-by-four and telling you I'm doing you a favor … and you agree and say, 'Yes, you have done me a favor.' That's how domineering (he is)."

Because of Abdalla's involvement in these incidents and Mullet's distrust of law enforcement, the two have been at odds since Mullet moved to Jefferson County in the mid-1990s.

Abdalla said he even received death threats from one of Mullet's sons, which he believes was orchestrated by Sam Mullet.

"It was two in the morning, (and he's) telling me I'm a dead SOB," Abdalla said. "He was charged with threatening, harassing, what have you. He went to court (and pleaded guilty)."

These stories and the terrible memory of the attack on her husband keep Arlene Miller awake at night, fearing the worst.

She's concerned that talking to the media – and the fact that her husband is only one of two beard-cutting victims who has pressed charges - could put them at risk once again.

"They didn't get all of Myron's beard that night, so (Mullet) is probably not done," she said.

That fear has driven the Millers, like a lot of other Amish families in the community, to take unprecedented precautions to protect themselves.

"We're locking doors, and we've got pepper spray and stuff like that," she said.

They never kept locks on their doors in the past, a trait shared by many Amish.

The "Bergholz clan" has also created a climate of fear in Amish communities well outside Bergholz and its surrounding towns. A man from Berlin, a couple hours away, who refused to give his name said he is fearful of the power Mullet wields.

"If we say something and they find out, we're going to be the target," the man said. "They would come after me. It's kind of scary here. I just don't want to get involved in it."

Inside Mullet's compound

Seven miles down a stretch of winding two-lane highway, deep in a valley outside Bergholz, you have to travel along township road over a mound of mud to get to the compound of Sam Mullet.

On the other side of that mound, barns and stables well past their prime come into view. A few white houses are mixed in with the farm buildings.

The only sound is the occasional neighing of the horses.

Next to a barn stands a boy, not much older than 9 or 10, in the plain Amish clothing: blue shirt, suspenders and trousers.

He stares at me, clearly an outsider, as I drive up in a car. Another boy watches as he sits just under the barn door near what is perhaps some horse-powered farm equipment.

Farther down the road, a group of younger children in the same type of clothing sit in what appears to be a sandbox.

Not one word can be heard, not even a laugh.

As I get out of the car, notebook in hand, the two boys disappear into the barn.

Little faces, some cradled by bonnets, peer out of windows of one in the houses as I approach.

A single knock at the door of a big white house at the dead end of the township road is answered by Sam Mullet, known as Bishop Mullet to the folks around here.

His tall frame fills the entryway; a long, wispy beard moves in the occasional light breeze. He seemed to be a charming, easygoing man.

When asked whether he'll respond to some of the charges folks are making about him, he chuckles and politely declines, saying he doesn't want to seem like he's just out to argue with people in the media.

"Can you perhaps respond to these allegations that you're running a cult?" I ask.

"People say a lot of things," Mullet says, a small, confident grin on his face.

"Are you running a cult?"

"No. It's not a cult."

"What about the allegations that you're behind the beard-cutting crimes?"

"Beard-cutting is a crime, is it?"

Another minute or so goes by as I attempt to glean more information. He repeats his claims from earlier that people "say a lot of things" before he politely dismisses me and heads back inside.

In an earlier interview with The Associated Press, Mullet said he did not order the beard attacks but didn't stop his sons and the other men from carrying it out.

In that same interview, he said he should be free to punish people who break the laws of the church.

Accusations of marriage-splitting

Looking back on his time under what he calls Sam Mullet's rule, Aden Troyer says he was brainwashed "80% of the way."

He wishes he could say the same of his wife, Wilma, Mullet's daughter. It was the beginning of the end of their marriage, and Troyer said that what happened over the course of a couple years wrecked him emotionally.

According to Troyer, the trouble began when Mullet heard that Troyer was planning to move his daughter and his granddaughters out of the group over the way Mullet was "ruling" his followers.

Not long after, Troyer said, Mullet began interfering with their marriage. Troyer said Mullet would ask women, including his wife, "about their sexual relationships with their husbands."

"That's very atypical behavior for Amish to do that," Troyer said. "It's unheard of."

He said Wilma spent more and more time with her father at his house. The two would sometimes talk all day and all night. He believes this was a tactic to get the women to a position in which they weren't thinking clearly on their own.

"One day I was at work, and I got home and … he came and took her, and that was the end of it."

Troyer said Mullet would allow them to be together only if Troyer gave in to Mullet's demands. Troyer refused, won custody of their two girls and moved to Pennsylvania.

Since Wilma has visitation rights but chooses not to exercise them, according to Troyer, this past spring he brought the girls back from Pennsylvania to see her. Once there, he said Wilma refused to let the children leave, citing an order from Sam Mullet.

The sheriff called in a SWAT team and the kids were returned to their father.

"In the Amish community, no one has jurisdiction over what goes on between a husband and wife," Troyer said. "He's the only guy and only leader that I know of that ever has gotten into an Amish couple's married life."

Troyer says his one regret is not being able to see the situation coming with enough time to warn his wife. To this day, he says, he holds his wife in the most positive light and says the only reason he wanted full custody was "for the safety of the children."

As for how he's explained why their mother has been absent so far in their lives, he's as gentle as possible.

"(I tell them) they do not need to be scared of their mother. She loves them, and she will not hurt them. I will say that," Troyer said. "But I don't think they're old enough that they can grasp what this guy is doing."

In that final minute on Sam Mullet's doorstep inside his compound, I asked him about the accusation that he split up his daughter's marriage to Troyer, with rumors of several more.

"Maybe you should ask the people whose beards were cut about the marriages they've split up," Mullet responded.

"Can you elaborate on that? What are you referring to, exactly?" I asked.

A quick chuckle, and he kindly said he was done.

[Ultonius]

Sorry to double post, and hopefully this isn't a necro, but I thought I'd post the latest developments. The court has heard a recording of a telephone conversation between Mullet and his nephew after the latter's arrest in October.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/ ... 0G20120908

Ohio Amish hate crime trial jury hears recording, trial goes on



By Kim Palmer

CLEVELAND | Fri Sep 7, 2012 8:22pm EDT

(Reuters) - An Amish sect leader facing federal hate crime charges laughed during a telephone call with his nephew about plans for more beard-cutting attacks on other Amish people, jurors in the Ohio trial heard in a recording played in court on Friday.

As they listened to calls between Samuel Mullet Sr. and his nephew Lester Miller, the jury read an English translation because the pair had spoken in Pennsylvania Dutch, the primary language of the Amish. The jury was told the calls had originated from the Holmes County jail in Ohio.

On the recording, Mullet was heard laughing about members of the community carrying out more attacks and told his nephew to stay strong and to keep his mouth closed after Miller was arrested last October. "They are trying to tear this whole thing apart," Mullet said, referring to his community.

Mullet and 15 other sect members are accused of planning or carrying out attacks on nine Amish men and women in southeastern Ohio last autumn. The victims' beards and hair were cut during the attacks.

Assistant U.S. attorney Bridget M. Brennan has told the jury that in the Amish faith, "the beard and the hair are symbols of Amish righteousness, religious symbols that God is present in their lives.

Witnesses have testified that the attacks were in revenge for a dispute between Mullet and other Amish religious leaders because they had accepted into their communities eight families that Mullet had shunned or ex-communicated.

Prosecutors have said the accused are on trial for terrorizing and injuring their victims, and that they are not on trial for their beliefs.

This week, prosecutors attempted to show through testimony by members of law enforcement and other Amish the fear and distrust that surrounded the community.

Witnesses testified to hearing rumors of cult-like activities and "unbiblical" punishments that included voluntary beard cutting, sleeping in chicken coops, and public paddling. "They were doing stuff that the Bible doesn't teach us," Anna Shrock told jurors on Friday. And, she said, Mullet believed that God "was talking to him."

As the jury was shown pictures taken directly after the attacks, victims testified to having their beards violently grabbed and cut to the skin.

"I was totally froze. I was scared. I didn't know the next thing that would happen," David Wengerd told the court on Thursday. He said he could not look in a mirror for months after the attack. "It just drove me batty. I didn't like to see myself."

The defense has argued that the attacks were the consequence of family feuds and child custody disagreements between members of the Amish community and that they do not rise to the level of a hate crime.

Testimony could conclude by the end of next week.

(Reporting By Kim Palmer; Editing by Mary Wisniewski)

The conversation demonstrates that his nephew's arrest didn't deter Mullet from allowing or ordering these attacks, though that perhaps isn't surprising. The Amish in general have shown a willingness to go to jail rather than betray their beliefs over issues such as schooling and social security. Just last year, eight members of the conservative Swartzentruber sect were jailed in Kentucky for failing to display the slow-moving vehicle emblem on the buggies, considering it gaudy and idolatrous for its orange colour and triangular shape. If Mullet genuinely believed that it was God's will that those who left his church district and the bishops who opposed him should be punished, the threat of jail for himself or his followers would probably not have discouraged him.

[LadyTevar]

Happy children make noise when they play, even the Amish I have had the pleasure to witness here in the hills of WV. Dead Silence from Children is unnervingly Wrong.

[Ultonius]

Presumably that was due to the reporter's presence, and not how they behave all the time. If Mullet tries to keep his followers as isolated from non-Amish as he does from Amish outside his group, the children might pick up that attitude and be wary. Even mainstream Amish might be more reserved around reporters than they would with most people, due to the cultural proscriptions that discourage or prohibit having one's face or name in the papers or on TV.

[Saxtonite]

The Amish don't have mainstream values. I can't speak for them directly, but it is conceivable that an Amish man would feel more mental trauma from a forced hair/beard cut than a severe beating. It's not quite the same as actual castration of course, but beards for Amish men are so iconic that there is a definite element of unmanning the victims, even if the beards are going to grow back. I have to wonder if that's part of the reason this is in court. Rape can be hidden, a bare chin not so much.

It's a bit like Central and South Asian cultures, and arguably some aspects of Arab cultures - growing a bear is preferred to the point that some islanic fundamentalists fined those without a beard long enough.

It's also extremely odd that they would possess and use a camera.

What sort of technology is and is not forbidden for the Amish to use varies from community to community, and amongst who is the current leader of each community - I've heard that Amish communities that own power tools will hear they are forbidden by the new leader, and so will diligently put them away in storage so that when the next leader says they are okay they can get them out again.

I knew an Anabaptist woman who was from Michigan. She knew of Star Wars, and was at an art college in the city. She mentioned for the first year she was shocked and surprised of life int he city as opposed to where she was from. She uses facebook to communicate with her family though....

[Ultonius]

Again, hoping this isn't a necro, but I just thought I'd post some recent news on the case.

Jury Ends Day 2 of Deliberating in Ohio Amish Case


By Associated Press
CLEVELAND September 14, 2012 (AP)

Jurors have ended a second day of deliberations without a verdict in the trial of 16 people accused of hate crimes in hair- and beard-cutting attacks against their fellow Amish in Ohio.

The jury started deliberations Thursday morning and will now take the weekend off before resuming next Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland.

The members of a breakaway Amish settlement are accused of hate crimes in what federal prosecutors say were attacks motivated by religious differences. They say the defendants cut off Amish men's beards and women's hair because the hair carries spiritual significance in their faith.

Defense attorneys acknowledge that the hair-cuttings took place but contend that prosecutors are overreaching by calling them hate crimes.

All the defendants could face lengthy prison terms if convicted.

It looks as though the jury will return to deliberating tomorrow. I'm fairly certain that Mullet and the others will be convicted, since their actions can definitely be construed as assault, and they do seem to me to fulfil the criteria of hate crimes, since the victims were attacked for refusing to compromise their beliefs.

[Ultonius]

It looks as though I was right.

Samuel Mullet, 15 Other Amish GUILTY Of Hate Crimes In Beard Cutting Attacks
AP | By THOMAS J. SHEERAN
Posted: 09/20/2012 6:15 pm EDT Updated: 09/20/2012 6:15 pm EDT

CLEVELAND (AP) — Sixteen Amish men and women were convicted Thursday of hate crimes for a series of hair- and beard- cutting attacks on fellow sect members in a religious dispute that offered a rare and sometimes lurid glimpse into the closed and usually self-regulating community of believers.

A federal jury found 66-year-old Samuel Mullet, the leader of the breakaway group, guilty of orchestrating the cuttings last fall in an attempt to shame mainstream members of his community who he believed were straying from their beliefs. His followers were found guilty of carrying out the attacks, which terrorized the normally peaceful religious settlement that aims to live simply and piously.

Prosecutors and witnesses described how sons pulled their father out of bed and chopped off his beard in the moonlight and how women surrounded their mother-in-law and cut off two feet of her hair, taking it down to the scalp in some places.

The defendants face prison terms of 10 years or more. Prosecutors say they targeted hair because it carries spiritual significance in their faith.

All the defendants are members of Mullet's settlement that he founded in eastern Ohio near the West Virginia panhandle. The Amish eschew many conveniences of modern life, including electrical appliances and automobiles, and embrace their centuries-old roots.

Federal officials said the verdicts would send a message about religious intolerance.

"The victims in this case are members of a peaceful and traditional religion who simply wanted to be left to practice their religion in peace," U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach said. "Unfortunately, the defendants denied them this basic right and they did so in the most violent way."

Members of the Amish community who sat through the trial hurried into a hired van without commenting, some covering their faces.

Defense attorneys said the defendants were bewildered by the verdicts and said likely appeals would be based on a challenge to the hate crimes law.

"They really don't understand the court system the way the rest of us have, being educated and reading newspapers," said Joseph Dubyak, whose client, Linda Schrock, has 10 children with her husband, who was also convicted.

Rhonda Kotnik, representing Kathryn Miller, said the verdicts would destroy Mullet's community of about 25 families. The defendants, including six couples, have a total of about 50 children, she said.

"The community is going to be ripped apart. I don't know what's going to happen to all their children," she said.

The suspects had argued that the Amish are bound by different rules guided by their religion and that the government had no place getting involved in what amounted to a family or church dispute.

Mullet wasn't accused of cutting anyone's hair. But prosecutors said he planned and encouraged his sons and the others, mocked the victims in jailhouse phone calls and was given a paper bag stuffed with the hair of one victim.

One bishop told jurors his chest-length beard was chopped to within 1½ inches of his chin when four or five men dragged him out of his farmhouse in a late-night home invasion.

Prosecutors told jurors that Mullet thought he was above the law and free to discipline those who went against him based on his religious beliefs. Before his arrest last November, he defended what he believes is his right to punish people who break church laws.

"You have your laws on the road and the town — if somebody doesn't obey them, you punish them. But I'm not allowed to punish the church people?" Mullet told The Associated Press last October.

The hair cuttings, he said, were a response to continuous criticism he'd received from other Amish religious leaders about him being too strict, including shunning people in his own group.

Defense attorneys acknowledged that the hair cuttings took place and that crimes were committed but contend that prosecutors were overreaching by calling them hate crimes.

Witnesses testified that Mullet had complete control over the settlement that he founded two decades ago and described how his religious teachings and methods of punishments deviated from Amish traditions.

One woman testified that Mullet coerced women at his settlement into having sex with him, and others said he encouraged men to sleep in chicken coops as punishment.

Mullet's attorney, Ed Bryan, maintained that the government had not shown that Mullet was at the center of the attacks. The defendants who cut the hair and beards acted on their own and were inspired by one another, not their bishop, Bryan said.

In one of the attacks, an Amish woman testified that her own sons and a daughter who lived in Mullet's community cut her hair and her husband's beard in a surprise assault.

The conviction probably will have major effects on the Bergholtz settlement. A bishop usually serves for life, but if Mullet is in jail for several years, the community might have to appoint a new one. It's possible that with Mullet and his most dedicated followers gone, some of those remaining who had misgivings about Mullet's actions but were afraid to do anything might now try to bring the settlement back to the Amish norm, or failing that, leave it altogether.

[Broomstick]

"They really don't understand the court system the way the rest of us have, being educated and reading newspapers," said Joseph Dubyak, whose client, Linda Schrock, has 10 children with her husband, who was also convicted.

Oh, please - the Amish most certainly CAN read. Well, maybe this particular community is entirely cut off from the world, but most Amish do read newspapers at least occasionally and have some notion of the outside world. And they are required to meet educational standards, which are usually observed. They aren't ignorant savages.

Rhonda Kotnik, representing Kathryn Miller, said the verdicts would destroy Mullet's community of about 25 families. The defendants, including six couples, have a total of about 50 children, she said.

"The community is going to be ripped apart. I don't know what's going to happen to all their children," she said.

Foster care, I suspect. There is precedent for other Amish taking in Amish kids either temporarily or permanently without parents. Foster them out to either other Amish in their community or to other Amish communities.

The suspects had argued that the Amish are bound by different rules guided by their religion and that the government had no place getting involved in what amounted to a family or church dispute.

Freedom of religion is not absolute.

"You have your laws on the road and the town — if somebody doesn't obey them, you punish them. But I'm not allowed to punish the church people?" Mullet told The Associated Press last October.

No, you are not allowed to assault your own church members. Or your family members, either.

[Ultonius]

Just another update on this case.

7 of 9 Ohio Amish haircut defendants free on bond
ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, AP Legal Affairs Writer
Updated 5:33 p.m., Monday, October 1, 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Seven of nine Amish defendants convicted in beard- and hair-cutting attacks on fellow Amish can remain free before they are sentenced early next year, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Most of the defendants U.S. District Court Judge Dan Aaron Polster is allowing to remain in their homes are women with large families, and the judge said he's mindful that their immediate detention could leave a number of very young children without parents.

The judge also said it was unlikely that suitable long-term care arrangements have been made since the defendants were found guilty Sept. 20.

"Further, the court does not believe any of these seven defendants will flee, nor is it likely they will commit another offense," he said. "None of the defendants has any prior record, and each was involved in only one of the religiously motivated attacks."

But the judge also said in his ruling that all defendants should be prepared to be taken into custody in late January if he imposes a prison sentence.

The judge declined to allow two defendants, Lester Miller and Raymond Miller, to remain free and ordered them to report to U.S. marshals by Friday.

A federal jury in Cleveland convicted 16 Amish defendants of hate crimes in last fall's attacks, which prosecutors say stemmed from religious disputes among the Amish in eastern Ohio. Prosecutors say the defendants targeted hair because it carries spiritual significance in their faith.

Defense attorneys did not deny that the hair-cuttings took place. They contended that the Amish are bound by different rules guided by their religion and that the government shouldn't get involved in what amounted to a family or church dispute.

The leader of the group was found guilty of orchestrating the cuttings in an attempt to shame mainstream members he believed were straying from their beliefs. His followers were found guilty of carrying out the attacks, which terrorized the normally peaceful religious settlements.

Nine of the 16 defendants remained free after the convictions, but the government had wanted them all locked up before sentencing.

Several of the people convicted are married, and prison terms could leave close to 50 children with one parent or both parents behind bars.

An attorney for one woman, Linda Schrock, argued she should be allowed to remain free until sentencing in part because she's busy harvesting crops and canning food for her 10 children. Her husband, who also was convicted, has been jailed since his arrest.

An attorney for another woman, Lovina Miller, said she has eight children she works hard to support and wasn't a flight risk because she travels by horse and buggy and has strong beliefs against air travel.

Schrock and Lovina Miller were among the seven defendants the judge allowed to remain free.

The attorney for Lester Miller, whose bond was revoked, had argued his family was relying on the money he makes and saves from his work on a construction crew over the next few months until his sentence is completed.

Miller, who has 11 children under the age of 16, also is needed at home for the fall harvest and to preserve food for the winter, his attorney argued.

Hopefully those freed will be smart enough not to make things worse for themselves by engaging in further acts of intimidation or assault. They should have adequate time to make preparations for their children's care. I'm assuming that the seven not released, most notably Sam Mullet himself, were judged to pose a greater risk of reoffense or flight.

[Ultonius]

I know this thread has been dead a while, but I'm hoping this article about the effects of the arrests on the Bergholz settlement is a relevant contribution.

Amish community remains close, yet fearful after Samuel Mullett and others were convicted of hate crimes

By John Caniglia, The Plain Dealer
on October 20, 2012 at 10:00 PM, updated October 21, 2012 at 12:06 AM

BERGHOLZ, Ohio -- Inside a one-room schoolhouse, Lizzie Mullet pulls her attention away from her students and focuses on the biggest issue facing them: their families.

"We're doing the best we can to keep our spirits up, but we're worried about what will happen next," Mullet said.

A month after a federal jury in Cleveland convicted Lizzie Mullet's father, Samuel, and 15 followers of hate crimes for beard-cutting attacks, the tiny Amish community in Bergholz continues on, tightly bonded and unwavering, yet troubled by fears of the future.

The settlement, about 100 miles from Cleveland in Jefferson County's winding foothills, tries to hang onto its old world beliefs in the face of an unforgiving federal justice system. Its members believe in Sam Mullet's teachings, appear content in their reclusive lifestyle and cannot understand why others want to intrude.

During the trial, federal prosecutors offered an unflinching look at the settlement and its leader: They argued that Mullet considered himself a god and above the law. Witnesses portrayed him as a scowling preacher who imposed bizarre discipline that included spankings and confinements in chicken coops.

He offered marital counseling to women in the community by having sex with them, witnesses said. And when Amish members opposed him, Mullet unleashed a band of henchmen to terrorize them, prosecutors said.

The five raids in the fall of 2011 typically took place at night, as the attackers from Bergholz sheared the victims' beards and hair with battery-operated clippers and horse-mane scissors.

Prosecutors said the attacks took place over religious disagreements.

"From day one, this case has been about the rule of law and defending the right of people to worship in peace," U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach said after the trial. "Our nation was founded on the bedrock principle that everyone is free to worship how they see fit. Violent attempts to attack this most basic freedom have no place in our country."

Last week, members of the Bergholz community scoffed at the government's portrayal. They said they were tired of being treated like zoo animals by others in different Amish communities, who stop, whisper and watch their every move.

They said the beard cuttings had nothing to do with avenging religious feuds. Instead, they involved family squabbles, a theory the federal jury rejected in convicting Mullet and the 15 others.

And now, they worry about what will happen when U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster sentences Sam Mullet and his followers Jan. 24 -- and how it will affect their community. Nine of the 16 are in jail, awaiting their sentencing.

The community lacks trust in law enforcement and fears that authorities, through the courts, may try to take the children of parents headed off to prison and pull them from the settlement.

Lizzie Mullet sees the fear daily.

When a sheriff's cruiser drives by the school, many of the school's 44 students cringe, fearing someone will be arrested, she said. Since the arrests last November, usually timid students have become rebellious, she said; others cry more easily. But she and other members say the community pushes on.

Sam Mullet remains the group's religious leader, even as he sits in a holding cell in Youngstown. The 18 families in the settlement -- about 40 adult members and scores of children -- meet Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays for gatherings. They talk, listen and sing hymns.

Members said they want to be among the most conservative of the Amish. They don't want battery-powered boom boxes in buggies or any display of worldliness.

"We're doing what the old-timers did for years," said Crist Mullet, one of Sam Mullet's sons. "We're going to keep going. We are not going to disperse. We'll deal with whatever happens when we get to it."

More than anything, they want their family members and friends who were convicted in September brought home. They hope Polster would simply release them, based on the amount of time they already have served in jail.

"Justice has been served," Crist Mullet said.

But federal sentencing guidelines indicate Sam Mullet, the 67-year-old bishop, could face life in prison. Dettelbach, the federal prosecutor, would not discuss the sentencings, saying it was up to the judge. His office has said that while Sam Mullet did not take part in the attacks, he orchestrated them, just as he did most of daily life in the Bergholz community.

The others could get more than 10 years in prison, though defense attorneys are expected to fight that at sentencing. The potential sentences have caused some fearing that grandparents and relatives from outside the community might attempt to gain custody of the children.

"I don't think that will happen, though," said Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla, who for years has been one of Sam Mullet's fiercest critics. "I think the children will be fine."

Sam Mullet forms new settlement in Bergholz

In 1995, Sam Mullet left an Amish community in Fredericktown, near Mansfield, and headed to Bergholz, seeking to lead an ultra-conservative group. He and his wife, Martha, raised many of their 18 children on an 800-acre farm. Mullet formed a construction company, and the community of believers grew.

The group included farmers, school teachers and carpenters. Each pulled together, whether splitting mountains of firewood, shoeing horses or baby-sitting children.

Few had heard of any trouble with the community until about 2006, when one of Mullet's daughters, Wilma, became involved in a contentious child-custody case that involved her two daughters and their father, Aden Troyer. Sam Mullet had excommunicated Troyer and his parents from the Bergholz Amish church.

Wilma's daughters are with her former husband. She said she has seen them only a few times in recent years.

"We hang together because we have no one else," Wilma Mullet said.

The Troyer issue caused tension in the Bergholz community, and some families left. Sam Mullet later excommunicated a handful of families from the church. A committee of Amish bishops reviewed the rulings and overturned Mullet, saying his decisions were not based on the scriptures.

The committee allowed the families to join other Amish communities. Sam Mullet's supporters said Aden Troyer's family were close friends with a key member of the committee.

About five years later, 15 of Mullet's family members and followers carried out the attacks.

Prosecutors said the committee's decision prompted the attacks, including the shearing of bishop Raymond Hershberger from Holmes County, whose beard was cut in October 2011. Hershberger had served on the committee and was not related to anyone from Bergholz.

But Mullet's supporters said the other attacks involved family members and a bishop whom the Bergholz community believed had mistreated one of Mullet's sons.

Dettelbach, the U.S. Attorney, bristled.

"That was precisely the defense at trial, and that was precisely the defense that the judge and jury unanimously rejected beyond a reasonable doubt," he said.

Mullet's supporters said the first talk of beard cuttings came in about 2009 within the Bergholz community, when Mullet's daughter Wilma lost permanent custody of her children. Members believed that if God allowed that to happen, the members had to have been living in sin, said Sam Mullet's attorney, Edward Bryan.

The women had suggested the cuttings as a way to grow closer to God, Bryan said. The men in Bergholz allowed their beards to be cut and acknowledged their wrongdoing. Bryan said they believed it marked a fresh start with God.

But the attacks on those outside the community were anything but voluntary, according to court records and testimony at the trial.

To most Amish, however, the cuttings are meant to degrade men, who grow their beards after marriage based on their religious beliefs. Sam Mullet's supporters said the beard cuttings, like stays in the chicken coop, became a symbol to members that they needed to straighten their lives and become better people.

Bryan said federal authorities over-reached in their decision to charge Mullet and his followers with hate crimes.

"The government jumped in before it knew all of the facts," Bryan said.

Questions of cult persist

But many who followed the trial questioned an Amish bishop sleeping with women in his community. Crist Mullet said the accusations of his father's sexual relationships had nothing to do with the allegations of the beard cuttings. But prosecutors said the issue of Mullet having sex with women in his community showed his power over it and his cult-like control over his followers.

"They tell us that we're a cult, and it upsets all of us," Crist Mullet said. "They can't see what we're trying to do. We're trying to straighten up our lives and live closer to God."

Allen Miller heard the statement and paused.

"They want us gone," Miller said of some Amish settlements and law enforcement. "That's fine. That's their problem. We want to live our lives the way we want to. And we should be able to do that."

Miller's wife, Anna, was convicted of conspiracy and a hate crimes charge in the Sept. 6, 2011, attack on her mother-in-law in Trumbull County. They have six children, ages 2 to 13. He works in logging, and he said he worries about what would happen if his wife is sentenced to a long prison term. He said community members have talked about what could be done to help him.

"We'll figure something out," he said.

The community has experienced other problems in the past. In 2008, Crist Mullet was convicted of three counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. He was sentenced to six months in jail. Others have had minor scrapes with the law.

Money, however, is not one of the problems in the Bergholz community.

Sam Mullet and a few of his followers have signed leases with oil and gas companies that will pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars for years. The community paid drivers $650 a day for the five-hour round trip to Cleveland for the three-week trial.

And Mullet's construction company has done well in recent years, building pole barns and fixing roofs.

But the community shows off little wealth. Mullet's farm appears primitive, and his large home is scantly furnished. The sole link to the outside world is a large wall calendar from Burkholder Buggy Parts in Millersburg.

Last week, a woman pressed clothes with two irons heated by a wood-burning stove. Another sewed clothes on a manual machine.

The schoolhouse, one of the community's jewels, sits on a hill near Sam Mullet's home. Many of its students in grades one through eight sit in oversized desks in a large room with wooden floors. The classroom's relaxed rules permit the children to work in their bare feet on a warm afternoon.

It is the place where many, for the first time, learn of the outside world, mostly through handfuls of second-hand books. But this year, the students are learning about that world at home.

It looks as though I was wrong about the possibility of people reforming or leaving the settlement. It's interesting that one defence attorney's fears that the community would be 'ripped apart' seem to have been exaggerated, to say the least.

[Broomstick]

If people wish to join - for lack of a better term - a "cult" they are free to do so. They are free to remain in such a community. The issue for the courts is that some people decided to leave and were then attacked. The court did not care about members of this insular community who submitted to hair-cutting of their own volition, the objection was that these forms of "discipline" moved outside of that community. Just because someone is family (however defined) does not give the patriarch rights to control their belief or worship or lifestyle. The Bergholtz Amish do not seem to understand that distinction.

[Ultonius]

Another indication that some members of the Bergholtz community haven't learned a lesson from the arrests of their fellows. Link.

Judge won’t release Amish convicted in Ohio beard-cutting attacks to attend family wedding


By Associated Press, Published: November 21

CLEVELAND — Defendants convicted in beard- and hair-cutting attacks on fellow Amish lost a bid Wednesday to leave jail to attend a family wedding after prosecutors argued they might flee or commit similar attacks while on furlough.

U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster, who presided at the trial of 16 Amish convicted in the attacks, ruled against requests by five of the nine locked-up Amish, who are awaiting sentencing on Feb. 8. Seven other defendants remain free pending sentencing.



The judge agreed with prosecutors that anyone released from jail might become a fugitive or pose a danger to others.

Those asking to attend the Thanksgiving Day wedding in Bergholz in eastern Ohio included two brothers and an uncle of the bride. Prosecutors say the bride and groom are “unindicted co-conspirators” in the case.

In September, a jury convicted the 16 of hate crimes in last year’s attacks, which prosecutors say stemmed from religious disputes among Amish. The convictions are being appealed.

The defendants seeking jail furloughs “participated in late-night violent assaults on unsuspecting victims, some of whom were family members,” the government said in opposing furloughs. “They have shown no remorse for their conduct and were even recorded talking about how they would have committed even more assaults had they known that they would be arrested.”

As for the bride and groom, “Lizzie Mullet and Ferdinand Miller are unindicated co-conspirators — they are not simply relatives of the defendants,” prosecutors said.

The government said the bride joked about and discussed the possibility of more assaults in a phone conversation with her jailed brother. According to the government, another recorded conversation showed the groom suggesting to his father that more attacks be carried out.

“If we can get through this, then we can go get more beard hair,” Ferdinand Miller said, according to prosecutors.

A defense attorney said he accepted the ruling.

“It was certainly worth the effort to make the motion, but I do understand the judge’s concerns,” said J. Dean Carro, attorney for Lester Miller, the bride’s uncle.

The defense doesn’t deny that the hair-cuttings took place. But it contends that the Amish are bound by different rules guided by their religion and that the government shouldn’t get involved in what amounted to a family or church dispute.

Sam Mullet Sr., the leader of the group and among those locked up along with two sons who asked for jail furloughs, was convicted of orchestrating the cuttings in an attempt to shame mainstream members he believed were straying from their beliefs.

His followers were found guilty of carrying out the attacks, which terrorized the normally peaceful religious settlements.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Just out of curiosity, how usual would it be in Ohio for prisoners found guilty of these kinds of charges to be allowed to attend family events such as weddings?

[Ultonius]

Just another couple of updates on this case: an interview with Sam Mullet from prison, plus his and the other prisoners' appeal has been rejected.

Sam Mullet, Amish Leader Convicted Of Beard-Cutting Attacks, Gives Jailhouse Interview

The Huffington Post | By Michael McLaughlin Posted: 12/05/2012 5:38 pm EST Updated: 12/06/2012 11:54 am EST

Blessed with a heavenly singing voice and unfazed by tough inmates, the Amish bishop convicted of hate crimes against other Amish said he's won the respect of his fellow felons.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily, Sam Mullet described life behind bars following his conviction for a series of hair- and beard-cutting attacks on other Amish in rural Ohio last year.

He also refuted scandalous allegations that he exploited his position of authority as the leader of a dissident sect to have sex with married women, including his daughters-in-law, on his 800-acre farm in Bergholz. Instead, he claimed that he provided "sexual counseling" to men and women on his compound.

"They say I went to the women, but they come begging to me for help," Mullet said.

His lawyer dubbed him the "Amish Dr. Ruth."

The 67-year-old preacher faces life in prison when sentenced on Feb. 8 for hate crimes and conspiracy. The 15 men and women who were his co-defendants could receive the same sentence.

Since his conviction in September, Mullet has slowly adjusted to prison life. Inmates bestowed him with the nickname "O.G." -- for original gangster -- a term he was unfamiliar with, but he recognized it as "something good." Mullet also told the Daily that he's popular, because he sings hymns after the lights are turned out and because he's generous in the commissary.

The renegade bishop explained why he broke away in the mid-1990s from mainline Amish communities. Mullet saw the dissolution of traditional Amish culture. Boys rode their buggies while listening to stereos, girls skated on rollerblades, he said. There were parties with beer in the woods and girls "in their birthday suits" inviting dates into their beds.

The reactionary movement Mullet unleashed in 1995 by founding a splinter group of Amish led to its own ethical lapses. As the leader of the community, Mullet imposed his brand of justice. Men who broke his rules were paddled and locked in empty chicken coops. Ex-followers said he had sex with the married women and, according to the federal prosecutors, committed incest with his daughters.

Some followers lost faith in Mullet's leadership beginning around 2005. After his son Eli was hospitalized for a mental breakdown, members of the community learned that Mullet was having an affair with his son's wife.

The disaffected members left the community and the followers who reaffirmed their loyalty to the group made changes that eventually led to the beard-cutting attacks. Mullet and his followers were at an existential crossroads following a defeat in court in which one of Mullet's daughters lost custody of her children to her ex-husband who'd defected from the group. Around the same time, a council of higher ranking Amish bishops overturned a shunning that Mullet had imposed on the parents of the former son-in-law.

Smarting from the setback, Mullet told the Daily that some of his followers decided to cut their own beards as an act of self-purification. Later, they spread the practice as a punishment against rivals in the Amish community.

Mullet continues to deny he ordered any of the attacks.

Funny how he fails to mention that other conservative Amish groups have split from the mainstream without feeling the need to beat their members and assault and humiliate those they disagree with. Also, I have to wonder if his nocturnal hymn-singing is really as popular as he claims it is.

Ohio Amish guilty of hair attacks lose appeal for new trial; judge won’t overturn convictions


By Associated Press, Published: December 6

TOLEDO, Ohio — A federal judge on Thursday denied a request for a new trial made by the leader of an Amish group and some of his followers convicted in hair-cutting attacks on members of their own faith.

U.S. District Judge Dan Polster also declined to overturn the convictions of Samuel Mullet Sr. and his followers who joined his request, most of those who were convicted.



Sixteen Amish men and women were convicted in September of hate crimes for a series of hair- and beard-cutting attacks that stemmed from a religious dispute that terrorized the normally peaceful religious settlement in eastern Ohio.

The five attacks just over a year ago were an attempt to shame mainstream members who Mullet believed were straying from their beliefs, prosecutors said.

Mullet’s defense attorney, Ed Bryan, argued that the prosecution presented no evidence that Mullet participated in the attacks and that merely knowing about the plans should not be enough for a conviction.

The judge rejected that argument, saying it was clear Mullet had a role in what happened even though he wasn’t accused of cutting anyone’s hair.

“There was substantial evidence that Samuel Mullet Sr. did more than tacitly approve of the attacks,” Polster wrote.

Bryan also argued that allowing Mullet’s daughter-in-law to testify about her sexual relationship with Mullet tainted the jury and should not have been permitted because it did not have anything to do with the hair cuttings.

Bryan said he was disappointed by the judge’s decision Thursday and that he plans to appeal.

“I think we made a pretty compelling case,” he said. “I still believe evidence presented at trial was insufficient.”

During the trial, witnesses described how sons pulled their father out of bed and chopped off his beard in the moonlight and how women surrounded their mother-in-law and cut off two feet of her hair, taking it down to the scalp in some places.

Prosecutors said the attackers targeted hair because it carries spiritual significance in the Amish faith.

Mullet’s request for acquittal or a new trial also said the judge should not have allowed an Associated Press article from an October 2011 interview of Mullet to be used as evidence and that prosecutors took Mullet’s statements in the article out of context, the judge wrote.

The judge responded by saying that Mullet never disputed the accuracy of the article and that Mullet could have testified to clarify what he meant.

“Of course, he was entitled to exercise his constitutional right not to testify, but he cannot now complain his comments were misconstrued,” Polster wrote.

During the interview at Mullet’s home before he was arrested, Mullet said he didn’t order the hair-cutting but didn’t stop anyone from carrying it out. “We know what we did and why we did it. We excommunicated some members here because they didn’t want to obey the rules of the church,” he said.

Mullet’s defense argued there was newly discovered evidence, including notes and a recording from the AP interview, that merit a new trial. But the judge wrote that the evidence was not new and could have been sought before the trial began.

“No one has seen the notes or the recording, and Mullet Sr. has not asserted that the notes or recording reflect any material difference from the evidence,” Polster said.

The defendants face prison terms of 10 years or more at their Jan. 24 sentencing.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I wonder if this case will set precedent for future cases where cult-like groups attack 'apostates' or external critics. In some ways, I suppose these assaults could be seen as a form of 'honour' crime, a ritual humiliation of those who the Bergholz community believe have brought dishonour upon them, just as honour killings are acts of vengeance against those who are perceived by their relatives to have brought dishonour on their families.