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Keep Amish leader locked up, prosecutors urge
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 initially was 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.
However, all 16 defendants’ convictions for conspiracy to conceal evidence were left intact, as were the convictions of Mullet and two other defendants for substantial obstruction of justice and the conviction of Mullet for making false statements to the FBI.
In a 2-1 decision, the federal appeals panel said the jury that convicted the defendants wasn’t properly instructed as to how to weigh the role of religion in the attacks.
The appeals court also said prosecutors should have had to prove that the assaults wouldn’t have occurred but for religious motives.
The attacks were in apparent retaliation against Amish people who defied or denounced Mullet’s authoritarian style.
Seven defendants are serving between five and seven years in prison.
Eight other defendants already have been released after one- or two-year prison terms.
The Amish believe the Bible instructs women to let their hair grow long and men to grow beards once they marry.
Forcibly cutting their hair or beards is considered offensive.