CLEVELAND — A judge reduced the prison terms Monday for the leader of a breakaway Amish group and seven of his followers who chopped off the hair and beards of Amish people with whom they disagreed.
Some of the seven victims in the 2011 attacks were awakened in the middle of the night, restrained and forcibly defaced to destroy an important symbol of their beliefs.
A sheriff testified at trial that one bishop’s hair was unevenly chopped to the scalp, leaving it bloody. Another victim said four or five men dragged him out of his house by his chest-length beard and chopped it to within 1 1/2 inches of his chin.
Last year, an appeals court dismissed hate-crime convictions against the 16 men and women, including the Ohio group’s leader, Samuel Mullet Sr. On Monday, Judge Dan Aaron Polster resentenced them on their remaining charges, principally conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Mullet’s 15-year sentence was reduced to 10 years, nine months. Sentences for four men who received seven years were cut to five years. Sentences for three men who got five years were lowered to three years, seven months.
The other eight, including six women, have served their sentences.