CLEVELAND (AP) — The man who famously put down his Big Mac to help rescue three women held captive for a decade in an Ohio house will never have to pay for another burger in his hometown.CLEVELAND – Jurors should be allowed to hear about alleged sexual “counseling” of Amish wives by a man charged with masterminding beard- and hair-cutting attacks on fellow Amish in Ohio, prosecutors told a federal judge Friday.
Prosecutors outlined the strategy in a legal brief in the case of 16 Amish defendants facing trial Aug. 27 in Cleveland before U.S. District Court Judge Dan Aaron Polster. The government brief said alleged sexual “counseling” of wives by alleged ringleader Samuel Mullet Sr. shows the control he had over followers at their eastern Ohio farm complex.
“His ability to convince those women, as well as their husbands and parents, to permit him to do so, establishes the extent of defendant Mullet’s control over the community,” the government said.
Based on that, the government said, the jury can conclude that Mullet was aware of last year’s attacks and approved.
The sexual conduct issues would bias the jury and lead to a “trial within a trial” unrelated to the charges, the defense said.
Cutting the beards and hair of men and hair of women would be considered deeply offensive in Amish culture. The Amish believe the Bible instructs women to let their hair grow long and men to stop shaving once they marry.
Mullet previously said he didn’t order the hair-cutting but didn’t stop his sons and others from carrying it out. He said the goal was to send a message to other Amish that they should be ashamed of themselves for the way they were treating him and his community.
