Sam Mullet, the leader of a breakaway Amish clan, and eleven other members of an alleged hair-cutting mob pleaded not guilty to federal hate crimes charges.
In a hearing on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland, Mullet and eleven others pleaded not guilty to charges that they forcibly cut off the hair and beards of members of the mainstream Amish community.
The twelve are accused of attacking fellow Amish as retaliation for a decision to overturn a series of excommunications dealt out by Sam Mullet. Mullet, who formed the breakaway Bergholz Clan in 1995, allegedly orchestrated the string of break-ins and assaults, which involved forcibly cutting victims’ hair and beards, symbols of faith in the Amish community,.
Four of the accused hair-cutters, Lester Miller, Freeman Burkholder, Raymond Miller and Anna Miller were granted bail on a $20,000 bond.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Getz argued in a filing that Sam Mullet himself should be denied bail because he “is primarily and ultimately responsible for this series of violent attacks. They were carried out by his loyal and devoted followers, to settle his scores.”
The judge sided with Getz and denied Mullet and one of his sons bail, but Mullet’s attorney, Edward Bryan, argued that “the fear that something apocalyptic is going to happen at the hands of Sam Mullet is just that, a fear, a remote and irrational fear,” Bryan said, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
In November, Mullet and seven others were arrested in an FBI raid and charged with violating the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Last month, a federal grand jury in Ohio returned a seven-count indictment charging them and four others related to the alleged attacks.
The trial is set for March 19.
Jillian Rayfield
Jillian Rayfield is a Reporter/Blogger for TPM, and started as a News Intern in May 2009. She graduated from Cornell University in May 2008 with a degree in Film, and worked as a Research Assistant for a market research firm in London in between.
You must admit, they are a handsome bunch. And Mullet, what a great name for someone obsessed with hair.
why the long faces fellas?
Are those beards or hirsute dickies?
Worst ZZ Top fan club ever?
DudleysPa It's a ZZ Top tribute band called "The Amish Kraken".
This was funded by The Hair Club For Men Super Pac if I'm not mistaken.
I can't decide whether they look like a bunch of extras out of Kingpin or a period comedy about the dumbest, zaniest outfit in the Confederate infantry.
lancelotlink09 Both?
How do you know your house has been broken into by the Amish?
williwaws ALL THE LIGHTS ARE OUT AND THEY TOOK UR MULE?
Are they anabaptists or just anti-bathing?
There isn't any /snark that I can come up with that can compete with reality.
Amish are such jokers. These guys got punk'd big time about how to audition for 'Shear Genius.'
It looks like the same bowl is used for all the boys' haircuts.
vituperation-toxicity looks like they used a colendar on the guy to the left
Isn't that Mose Shrute, second from the left?
How apt of them to appear in court wearing prison blue.
Now I've heard of helmet head , but it usually refers to a circumcised male. These guys, or at least the two kids in the middle, give it a whole new meaning.
BTW: it's not one of the seven seals described in Revelation, but Amish on Amish violence has got to be a portent of something ominous. Perhaps Papal Wrestling is coming soon. I mean the Catholics have the costumes already and the scripted bad guy to boot.
Geez ,did you notice that two of them are wearing helmets? (I think that is what those things are.) What are they afraid of? Someone might cut their hair or something? (Ok, if those 'things' are actually their hair, it gives a whole new meaning to 'helmet hair'.)
Jinks on es, A pinch, a poke, now you owe me an ice-cold coke. or something like thates
Does it seem a bit odd that the leader of the terrorist hair cutting gang is named "Mullet"?
Fargo's comment is hilarious and Sam is aptly named.
Another jam band gone wrong.
The Bergholz Clan
The Mullets
Shaving Pvt. Ryan
The Clippers (oh that one is already taken)
The Amish Clash (too derivative)
Angry Amish Inch (again, too derivative)
Razor's Edge
Helmet Head
williwaws LOL
More secular religious persecution in America! These men are freedom fighters defending this Christian nation from Obama's tyrannical, secular, socialism.
And Obama hangs out with Reverend Wright.
/snark
Just LOOKING at these guys makes you want to convict them of SOMETHING. Like churning butter over the speed limit.
fargo116 Trying to bring back bowl cuts?
lancelotlink09fargo116 At first I thought they were hats made of hair.
These guys are far too concerned with their appearance, especially for such religious folks.
these amish are just out of control.
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