US attorneys urge court not to reduce sentences for Amish felons
CLEVELAND
The resentencings of Amish people convicted in beard- and hair-cutting attacks on fellow members of their faith in Ohio should not result in significant decreases in their prison terms, assistant U.S. attorneys are arguing.
That’s especially the case for Samuel Mullet Sr., leader of the Bergholz community, who was initially sent to prison for 15 years, assistant U.S. attorneys wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed in advance of the 1:30 p.m. March 2 resentencing hearing.
“The Amish community in Ohio lived in fear of these defendants,” they wrote in their memorandum to U.S. District Court Judge Dan Aaron Polster. The assistant attorneys are Bridget M. Brennan, Thomas E. Getz and Kristy L. Parker.
One of the five attacks occurred in 2011 in Mesopotamia Township in northern Trumbull County.
Wendi L. Overmyer, a federal public defender representing Mullet, said she’ll seek to have her client sentenced to the 39 months he’s already been locked up and released immediately.
“It’s within the properly calculated guideline range,” she said, adding that she’ll be elaborating on her position in a sentencing memorandum.
The re-sentencings are necessitated by a U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the hate crime convictions of the 16 defendants, but left intact some convictions for substantial obstruction of justice and making false statements to the FBI.
Read more about the case in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.