Amish Hair-Cutting Attacks: 4 Women Charged

By Kim Palmer

CLEVELAND, March 29 (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors have expanded a hate crimes case against followers of Ohio Amish sect leader Samuel Mullet Sr., charging four more women with participating in a beard and hair-cutting attack last year.

In all, 16 members of the group including Mullet now face charges in attacks that officials said were intended to humiliate the victims, since the Amish believe married men and women must abstain from cutting their hair.

Lovina Miller, Kathryn Miller, Emma Miller and Elizabeth Miller were charged Wednesday in federal court in Cleveland for taking part in an attack on a couple from the Holmes County, Ohio Amish community on Sept. 6, 2011.

All four are married to nephews of Mullet, a Bergholtz, Ohio bishop authorities have accused of being the ringleader for the assaults. The women face charges of assault and kidnapping in the attack and as part of the larger conspiracy that included tampering with evidence.

A 10-count indictment against the 16 defendants contends that some members burned hair and a bonnet taken in an assault, concealed scissors and clippers used in some attacks and hid a camera used to take pictures of some assault victims on Mullet property before turning it over to authorities.

Prosecutors believe the attacks in September, October and November 2011 covered by the indictment were motivated by a dispute between Mullet and other Amish bishops after members of his group left and joined neighboring communities.

All 16 defendants have been charged under federal hate crimes laws related to multiple hair and beard cutting attacks.

Two defendants, Mullet and Lester Miller, have filed motions arguing that the statute, which carries a possible life sentence, does not apply to intra-religious disputes and is a violation of the separation of powers.

Seven of the original defendants including Mullet and two of his sons have been in custody since their arrest in October. (Reporting by Kim Palmer; Editing by Paul Thomasch)

Comments

[jadeaic]

01:21 PM on 04/03/2012

They aren't cutting off limbs; their hair will grow back. Give me a break -

[kauthon]

02:31 PM on 04/03/2012

So if I saw you on the street and shaved you bald. You'd be ok with that.

[Kael Mc]

12:59 PM on 04/03/2012

That's it! I'm gonna go be Amish. If This is terrible news in their community? Sounds great!

[Beth Peres]

02:04 AM on 04/03/2012

Emotional and physical, hair in many religions is very important.
If you look at 4 major religions of the United States - Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Judaism, there are sects of women (and men in the case of Sikhs) in all of those religions cover their hair.
Why? For different reasons, but one shared by all is modesty.

A lot of Muslim and Jewish men feel it is important to grow beards, and it is not only a sign of pride when one grows it successfully, but it is an outward sign of faith.

During the early years of the Nazi occupation, SS men would round up Jewish men, dragging them by their beards, only to cut them off in front of everyone. What shame was felt for the individual, for the community. Why did the SS do this? Why not cut off a finger?
The beard, as they knew, as Mullet in this case also knew, is a sign of great pride and faith.

After September 11th, many Muslim men, Sikh men, some Jewish men [with darker complexions] shaved their beards after hearing of attacks on Muslims. It was a great shame for these men, but they did so for their safety in a time of mass hysteria.

While it is just hair to so many of us, it is still a hate crime to cut, forcibly, when one's religion says they are to obtain for cutting, and the cutter knows said laws.

[kerao]

11:18 PM on 04/01/2012

If I were the police enforcement. I wouldn't be wasting tax dollars on absurd hair cutting and beard cutting attacks. If there weren't any physical violence involved then hair grows back. Who was kidnapped? Who's bonnet was stolen. Bunch of hogwash....

[debRam]

01:10 PM on 04/02/2012

So you'll decide what a hate crime is then? And if no blood is shed, no harm is done? Thank god you're NOT police enforcement.

[Kael Mc]

01:05 PM on 04/03/2012

C'mon lady! It was a painless, victimless "crime". It's not even permanant. It's absurd that the local police department would spend taxpayers dollars investigating and prosicuting this case because by the time it goes to trial, it will have grown back! I'll say it again, if this is terrible news in their community, then I'm gonna go be Amish. And they can cut my hair all they want.

[mother10]

09:56 PM on 04/01/2012

what

[Jill Press]

12:41 AM on 04/01/2012

MAN IN POLICE CUSTODY FORCED TO GET HAIRCUT

Some free market purists are protesting the haircut that Joshua ben Joseph was forced to undergo after his arrest last Wednesday for allegedly overturning the money lenders' tables in the temple.

“The state has an obligation to make cutting off his hair part of the fun of his execution.” said Giorgio Bushtius, former president of the Association of Capital Punishment Promoters.“Cutting his hair behind closed doors where we can't sell tickets for people to watch is money out of my pocket,” added Rictus Perrium, the Association's current president, “The state had no right to jump the gun, so to speak.”

Defending the state's actions, Giorgio Zimmernicus told reporters, “The guards were acting in self-defense. He might have been hiding something dangerous in his hair. You can't be too careful with such a suspicious character.”

The vox populi tends to agree. “Maybe they should have waited until he's convicted, but he's a troublemaker, so who cares?” noted Bergholtzohio Millernutti of the Holier-Than-Thou Legal Forum. Also supporting the authorities, Samuelium Mulleticus, bishop of the Mine is Bigger Than Yours Society, insisted “What's most important about this case is that people learn to obey me.“

Reached at her home, the mother of the accused could only lament, “If he had listened to me and gone to medical school, we wouldn't have such problems.”

[oneeasyrider]

01:54 PM on 04/01/2012

True to form, voice of people everywhere for sanity and reason, satire star Jill Press strikes again -- piercing the heart of hypocrisy and absurdity -- anywhere and anyplace it rears it's ugly head!

Viva la Jill Press!

[Jill Press]

03:20 PM on 04/01/2012

Maximus was my muse.

[TINKER6]

07:28 PM on 03/31/2012

Give them to their victims, for a year barn detail.
Let them travel on foot where the buggy goes for street detail, then they will know of traveling in their own shoes.
May the Amish have mercy on your souls.
All in favor............

[Kael Mc]

01:00 PM on 04/03/2012

Aye!

[dbrett480]

03:52 PM on 03/31/2012

Does anyone else think it is funny that someone named Mullet has been arrested for a hair related crime?

[KenMoore]

01:59 PM on 04/01/2012

Yes. I do.

[TaxpayingVoter]

03:55 PM on 04/01/2012

Yes. There are a thousand jokes to be made on that part....lol

Not that I condone the crime, mind you.

[Kael Mc]

01:06 PM on 04/03/2012

I do! Drive-by hair cuts for everyone!

[Elecktra001]

03:31 PM on 03/31/2012

Some people just get tired of others smelling like wet dog.

[Talab]

03:00 PM on 03/31/2012

"What ya in for " .... Barbering ...... and they all moved away from him on the group M bench ( Too bad we don't have Arlo Gunthre to write a new Alice's Restaurant )

[edtheengineer]

04:42 PM on 04/01/2012

You can have any "do" you want at Mullet's hair salon.

[Tracee Collins]

12:57 PM on 03/31/2012

Maybe the women were making another statement: tired of tangles, tired of those lonnnng beards trailing down on them....UGH!
sorry, but the visual...

[Raquel Lee Galford]

09:27 AM on 03/31/2012

I am absolutely dumbfounded by our legal system. I understand that their behavior was wrong, however we have murderers, rapists, pedophiles and kidnappers who are not having to face charges as serious as a hate crime. I can't understand why cutting hair is made out to be a horrible hate crime when there are far more serious things to deal with

[Raquel Lee Galford]

08:54 AM on 04/02/2012

I hadn't thought of it quite like that. There is truly a dark side to it.

[fus7tf]

08:02 AM on 03/31/2012

"Two defendants, Mullet and Lester Miller, have filed motions arguing that the statute, which carries a possible life sentence, does not apply to intra-religious disputes and is a violation of the separation of powers."
A possible life sentence? Are you kidding me,what is wrong with our legal system? Of course it was wrong what they did but they did not murder anyone!!! Seriously this is disturbing!

[Joseph Bosse]

09:02 PM on 03/31/2012

Well, it sounds harsh, but their little barber shop prank included kidnapping and false imprisonment. Once you tack the assault on, it kind of adds up that way. They're lucky they weren't in florida, they'd likely have 20+ charges each.

[southingtonian]

06:33 AM on 04/02/2012

also home invasion, all over religious differences. For my own reasons, I believe in a supreme being, but I will have no truck with formalized religions.

[Beth Peres]

01:39 AM on 04/03/2012

Didn't they also cross state lines at one point? I think that is also why it's a federal and not just a state prosecuted hate crime.

[Stavo]

07:23 AM on 03/31/2012

Those Amishers are a brutal bunch.

[Talab]

06:34 AM on 03/31/2012

Hmm i wonder what the Penalty will be for such BARBERous behavior if they are found guilty ?

[Tracee Collins]

12:56 PM on 03/31/2012

lol funny, can't help it!