Beard-cutting convict wants out because of coronavirus
Amish bishop Sam Mullet, one of more than a dozen people convicted in a series of nighttime raids and beard cuttings on his enemies in eastern Ohio, wants out of federal custody because of the coronavirus.
The 74-year-old asked U.S. District Judge Dan Polster on Wednesday to reduce his 10-year, nine-month sentence to time served because of underlying health issues. He is in a halfway house in Youngstown and his official release date is Jan. 18.
Federal public defender Edward Bryan wrote in the motion that Mullet underwent triple bypass surgery in 2017 to fix blockages in his arteries and that he poses an increased risk of illness or death from the coronavirus because of his age and heart condition.
Bryan said the Federal Bureau of Prisons would not allow Mullet to finish the rest of his sentence on house arrest until July.
“Mr. Mullet has completed the vast majority of his sentence and is currently in the transition stage back to his community,” Bryan wrote on behalf of his client. “In light of the serious health risks currently at play in the community and individually related to Mr. Mullet’s health and age, this Court should grant Mr. Mullet’s compassionate release forthwith.”
It was not immediately clear whether federal prosecutors would oppose Mullet’s request. An email sent to a U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman was not immediately returned.
Mullet led a breakaway sect of an Amish community made up of 18 families in the village of Bergholz, about 100 miles southeast of Cleveland. They were convicted of several crimes in September 2012 for carrying out five nighttime raids in 2011.
Members of the community rousted five victims out of bed and chopped off their beards and hair with horse mane shears and battery-powered clippers. The attackers documented the attacks with a disposable camera.
Men’s beards and women’s hair have spiritual significance to the Amish.
Prosecutors said the attacks were carried out at the behest of Mullet against the bishop’s enemies and brought hate-crime and obstruction charges against 16 members of the Amish community.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later overturned the hate-crime convictions, citing faulty jury instructions. Polster re-sentenced all of them to shorter sentences in March 2015 – with Mullet’s sentence being reduced from 15 years to 10 years, nine months in federal prison.
The judge noted that it was clear the attacks were religiously motivated. He later knocked down another attempt by Mullet to vacate his sentence.
Mullet is the only defendant who remains in custody.
“The (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has strongly advised all persons over the age of 70 to self-isolate in their homes to avoid contracting the virus,” Bryan wrote. “Mr. Mullet cannot do this at a Bureau of Prisons halfway house that is continuing to receive transitioning inmates from the Bureau of Prisons.”
If the judge is not inclined to release Mullet, Bryan asked Polster to allow him to complete the rest of his sentence on house arrest.