Amish Hate Crime Convictions

A jury in Cleveland has convicted 16 people, all residents of Ohio, of federal hate crimes arising out of a series of religiously-motivated assaults on practitioners of the Amish religion.

The convictions stem from a series of separate hate-crime assaults that occurred in four Ohio counties between September and November 2011. In each assault, defendants forcibly removed beard and head hair from practitioners of the Amish faith with whom they had ongoing religious disputes.

The 16 defendants convicted include Samuel Mullet Sr., 66, Johnny S. Mullet, 39, Daniel S. Mullet, 38, Levi F. Miller, 54, Eli M. Miller, 32, Emanuel Shrock, age unknown, Lester Miller, 37, Anna Miller, age unknown, Linda Shrock, age unknown, Emma J. Miller, age unknown, Kathryn Miller, age unknown, Lovina Miller, 32, Raymond Miller, 27, Freeman Burkholder, 31, Elizabeth A. Miller, age unknown, and Lester Mullet, 27.

The jury found the defendants guilty of conspiring to violate the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which prohibits any person from willfully causing bodily injury to any person, or attempting to do so by use of a dangerous weapon, because of the actual or perceived religion of that person.

Samuel Mullet Sr., the Bishop of the Amish community in Bergholz, Ohio, exerted control over the community by taking the wives of other men into his home, and by overseeing various means of disciplining community members, including corporal punishment, according to trial testimony.

The defendants face terms of up to life in prison. Judge Dan Aaron Polster has scheduled a sentencing hearing for January 24, 2013.

Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, said, ‘The violent and offensive actions of these defendants, which were aimed at beliefs and symbols held sacred by this country’s Amish citizens, are an affront to religious freedom and tolerance.’

RELATED: Ohio Amish Leader Sentenced to 15 Years for Religious Hate Crime Attacks