Many think of the Amish people as a tight community that stick together. Not much is heard about any issues within their group. In 2011, the spotlight was on the Amish, more specifically on Samuel Mullet of Bergholz, Ohio.

Mullet was presumed to be the leader of a group of fellow Amish family members to attack other Amish. The attacks included shaving off the beards of the victims. When it comes to the Amish they place a high importance on their beards and not shaving them due to religious beliefs. “It’s a religious symbol that shows maturity and wisdom. Letting their natural hair grow is a sign of willingness to let God’s creation take its course,” Dr. Donald Kraybill, distinguished college professor in sociology and religious departments as well as senior fellow of the Young Center said. The beard is a symbol of manhood and power for Amish men. Shaving off a man’s beard goes against religious beliefs and takes away significant value to the man. Kraybill described the attackers as a “renegade group,” which explains the title of his book “Renegade Amish” that goes into detail of the attacks.

There were multiple attacks that happened over the span of a few months in what is now known as the Bergholz attacks. From the attacks, 16 individuals were first convicted for burglary and kidnapping. They were also charged with various hate crime charges for either the attacks themselves or for conspiracy for helping with the attacks, which were later, overturned. The Bergholz case was turned over to the federal government due to complications when trying the individuals at a statewide level.

Dr. Kyle Kopko, assistant professor of political science and director of pre-law program at Elizabethtown College said, “It would have been a logistical nightmare to prosecute them at the state level. The federal government had the jurisdiction to prosecute these individuals over the new hate crime statue that was enacted by Congress in 2009. The state authorities couldn’t use Mullet’s comments saying the attacks were all about religion, Ohio state law doesn’t allow the kind of prosecution to move forward but federal law did. The convictions were appealed in the summer of 2014. The six circuit court of appeals ruled in a two to one split decision that the jury instructions were flawed, so they had to throw out the charges.”

With the use of interstate roads that were used to transport the Amish, the postal service and hair cutting materials that were made from all around the US, the federal government had the jurisdiction to prosecute Mullet and the other individuals. This was the first time the US prosecuted religious hate crimes and the first time that a hate crime like this has happened in the Amish community in their 300 years of faith.

Mullet conducted four attacks with resulted in a total of eight victims. The Miller family, victims of one of the attacks, got a late night knock on the door and opened up, multiple people wearing headlamps soon surrounded them. After forced entry the father, was pinned down and his beard was clipped leaving a bloody mess. The women in the group turned on the mother, chopping off her waist- length hair then leaving the home. The same tactics were used in the other attacks, using shears and clippers made for horses when cutting off their victims’ hair.

Mullet was originally sentenced to 15 years in prison, which was reduced to 10 years and nine months. He was not charged with the hate crime but for lying and concealing information to federal government. The court threw out the hate crime conviction, saying that the attacks were fueled by “intra-family disagreements, not the victims’ religious beliefs.” Others were sentenced to 40-60 months of jail time for the same reason of lying to the government, not the hate crime.

The Bergholz attack was definitely an eye opening story to the Amish community and non-Amish communities. Hearing about the violent manner that Mullet and his crew took to their victims violating their personal and religious rights is shocking to us all. The way Mullet took to his own kind of people is a disgrace and hopefully everyone can learn from this. Participating in any sort of hate crime is never the way to resolve any issue and now Mullet and the “renegade Amish” are paying for it.