Prosecutors want life for Amish leader
2013-02-05 22:07
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Toledo - Federal prosecutors want a life sentence for the
leader of an Amish breakaway group convicted in a series of beard- and
hair-cutting attacks, saying it's highly unlikely the attacks would have
happened without his involvement.
Samuel Mullet snr not only orchestrated the attacks, but
he also held absolute control over the members of his Amish settlement in
eastern Ohio near the West Virginia panhandle, prosecutors said in court
documents filed on Tuesday.
Mullet is due to be sentenced on Friday in US District
Court in Cleveland along with 15 others convicted in the hair-cuttings who live
in the settlement.
His attorney last week asked for a sentence of 18 months
to two years.
The government said the cuttings were an attempt to shame
members of the Amish community who Mullet believed were straying from their
beliefs.
His followers were found guilty of carrying out the
attacks, which prosecutors say targeted hair because it carries spiritual
significance in the Amish faith.
The Amish eschew many conveniences of modern life,
including electrical appliances and automobiles, and embrace their centuries-old
roots.
They believe the Bible instructs women to let their hair
grow long and for men to grow beards and stop shaving once they marry.
Mullet wasn't accused of cutting anyone's hair.
But prosecutors said he planned and encouraged his sons
and the others and mocked the victims in jailhouse phone calls.
His defence attorney, Ed Bryan, said Mullet has no
criminal history and that the 67-year-old is hardly a threat to commit any more
crimes.
He noted Mullet is facing the same sentence as those
given to notorious killers including Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.
But prosecutors say Mullet has not accepted
responsibility for what happened and that he has tried to blame the others,
including his own children, for acting on their own.
Mullet also lied to investigators and tried to hide
evidence in the case, prosecutors said.
Before his arrest, he defended what he believes is his
right to punish people who break church laws.
Prosecutors say they have received 14 letters from Amish
in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York asking for a long sentence for Mullet.
"I feel he is not safe and fear for the life of our
children," wrote one woman, according to a letter released by prosecutors.
The woman's name was not released by the government.
- AP
