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Amish suspects to stay in jail after Youngstown hearing
YOUNGSTOWN
A U.S. magistrate has ordered that four Ohio Amish men charged with committing and conspiring to commit religiously motivated beard-cutting assaults remain jailed pending trial.
Calling them flight risks and “a danger to the Amish community,” Magistrate George J. Limbert ordered continuing detention Wednesday for Samuel Mullet Sr., a 66-year-old Amish bishop and his sons, Johnny S., 38; Daniel S., 37; and Emanuel Schrock, 43, all of Bergholz, who were arrested last week.
The offenses, in which Amish men’s beards were forcibly cut, were described by the U.S. attorney as hate crimes. In the Amish religion, a man’s beard and head hair are sacred.
The attacks, suspected to have stemmed from a religious dispute, occurred between September and November in Mesopotamia Township in northern Trumbull County, and in Holmes, Carroll and Jefferson counties, the FBI said.
The magistrate ruled from the bench after a four-hour hearing in federal court.
“I consider these acts as violent acts,” Magistrate Limbert said, adding that the defendants face up to a life prison term if convicted.
Bridget M. Brennan, an assistant U.S. attorney, argued for continued pretrial detention, saying electronically monitored house arrest is “not an option” because the defendants live in a community without electricity.
However, the four defense lawyers argued that their clients are not flight risks because they are employed married men with children who belong to a close-knit community and have no prior criminal records.
But the U.S. attorney said the defendants forcibly restrained multiple Amish men and cut off their beards and head hair with scissors and battery-powered clippers, injuring the victims and others who tried to stop the attacks.
“I saw a guy with a full beard, and, two hours later, they just stripped him of everything,” testified Jefferson County Sheriff Fred J. Abdalla, who saw the victim immediately before and after the clipping.
“He was just devastated,” the sheriff said.
Three other men charged federally in this case will have a 10 a.m. Friday detention hearing before Magistrate Limbert. They are Lester S. Mullet, 26, of Hammondsville, another son of Samuel Mullet Sr., and Levi F. and Eli M. Miller, ages 53 and 32, respectively, both of Bergholz.
An affidavit filed by FBI Agent Michael S. Sirohman, who also testified Wednesday, said Eli Miller confessed his role in the Sept. 6 Mesopotamia attack.
“For almost 500 years, people have come to this land so that they could pray however and to whomever they wished. Violent attempts to attack this most basic freedom have no place in our country,” said Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S. attorney.