An appeals court Wednesday overturned hate-crime convictions for 16 attacks on Amish communities in 2011.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the jury had "received incorrect instructions about how to weigh the role of religion in the attacks," according to The Associated Press. The attacks involved the cutting of Amish peoples' beards and hair in Ohio neighborhoods. AP reports that the attacks, which were perpetrated by fellow Amish, were "apparent retaliation" for those who had "denounced the authoritarian style" of local leader Sam Mullet, Sr.
"When all is said and done, considerable evidence supported the defendants' theory that interpersonal and intra-family disagreements, not the victims' religious beliefs, sparked the attacks," the ruling stated. Prosecutors had argued that the attacks were hate crimes, since they were the result of "religious differences," but today, the court ruled that religious beliefs were not responsible for the assaults.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Mullet, 69, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2013 for encouraging the attacks. He was also tried in 2008 for asking a woman "to have sex with him for religious reasons." Prosecutors argue the 2008 case proves "the high level of the control" Mullet had over the Amish community near Steubenville, Ohio.
-
Aimee Betro: the Wisconsin woman who came to Birmingham to killIn the Spotlight US hitwoman wore a niqab in online lover's revenge plot
-
Facial recognition vans and policingThe government is rolling out more live facial recognition technology across England
-
Dive in! The best children's books to spark a love of readingThe Week Recommends These gripping stories will keep kids hooked until the last page
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambushSpeed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside homespeed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confessionspeed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulderspeed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC paradespeed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
