Religion and Politics

Convictions Of Amish Sect Leader And Followers Overturned In Hair-Cutting Attacks

Erick Eckholm of The New York Times reports, “A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned the hate-crimes convictions of the leader of a breakaway Amish sect and his followers who sowed fear in the Amish of eastern Ohio in 2011 for a bizarre series of attacks in which they cut the hair and beards of rivals.” The court reversed the ruling because it was determined that the religion of the victims was not the primary factor motivating the assaults. “When all is said and done, considerable evidence supported the defendants’ theory that interpersonal and intrafamily disagreements, not the victims’ religious beliefs, sparked the attacks,” the appeals court said.

Read at The New York Times

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