DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man who posted a video of his father’s severed head on YouTube was convicted of homicide Friday and sentenced to life with out parole.
Bucks County Choose Stephen A. Corr discovered Justin D. Mohn, 33, responsible within the January 2024 taking pictures loss of life of his father at their residence within the Philadelphia suburb of Levittown.
After the sentencing, Bucks County District Lawyer Jennifer Schorn instructed reporters Mohn had exhibited a “full and utter lack of regret,” calling it an “unimaginable, unfathomable crime.”
“We’re happy that this was the best consequence to ensure that the group at massive is protected from Justin Mohn,” Schorn stated.
A message looking for remark was left for Mohn’s protection lawyer, Steven M. Jones.
Prosecutors stated Mohn shot his father, Michael F. Mohn, 68, with a newly bought pistol, then decapitated him with a kitchen knife and machete. The 14-minute YouTube video he posted was reside for a number of hours earlier than it was eliminated. Mohn testified through the trial that he shot his father whereas making an attempt to arrest him on what he stated had been false statements and treason however his father resisted, so he fired at him. He stated he severed his head to ship a message to federal employees to fulfill his calls for, which included their resignation amongst different issues.
Mohn was arrested later that day after scaling a fence at Fort Indiantown Hole, the state’s Nationwide Guard headquarters. Prosecutors stated he referred to as for others to hitch him in trying to overthrow the U.S. authorities.
Mohn had a USB machine containing images of federal buildings and obvious directions for making explosives when he was arrested, authorities stated.
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He additionally expressed violent anti-government rhetoric in writings he printed on-line, going again a number of years. Through the trial, the decide heard from Justin Mohn’s mom, who stated police got here to the home he shared along with his dad and mom and warned him about his on-line postings earlier than the killing.
Denice Mohn testified that she and her husband had been providing monetary help and steerage as Justin Mohn regarded for a job.
Prosecutors described the murder as “one thing straight out of a horror movie.” They stated Justin Mohn killed his father — who had been an engineer with the geoenvironmental part of the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District — to intimidate federal employees, calling it a “chilly, calculated, organized plan.”
The YouTube video included rants in regards to the authorities, immigration and the border, fiscal coverage, city crime and the conflict in Ukraine.
In courtroom, Michael Mohn was remembered as a superb neighbor and current, supportive father. Within the video posted on YouTube, Justin Mohn described his father as a 20-year federal worker and referred to as him a traitor.
Throughout a competency listening to final 12 months, a protection skilled stated Mohn wrote a letter to Russia’s ambassador to the US looking for to strike a deal to offer Mohn refuge and apologizing to President Vladimir Putin for claiming to be the czar of Russia. The decide dominated Mohn was competent to face trial.
Proof introduced on the trial included graphic images and the video posted to YouTube. The decide warned members of the general public on the trial in regards to the photographs and stated they might go away earlier than the images had been proven. The proceedings are often known as a bench trial, with solely a decide, not a jury.
