Renegade Amish by Donald B. Kraybill

Author:Donald B. Kraybill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2014-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Shears, Photos, Recordings, and Pain

Prosecutors provided various forms of evidence to the jury: recorded jailhouse calls back to Bergholz, the battery-powered clippers and the shears used in the attacks, and other pertinent physical items such as sales receipts. The most surprising evidence was the photographs of some of the attacks taken by the Bergholz barbers themselves. Since Sam Mullet did not directly participate in the cuttings, the pictures were taken to provide him and other community members with before-and-after shots of the victims as well as images of the actual hair cuttings.

The prosecution called twenty-six witnesses to testify and confirm evidence. They included seven victims, seven law enforcement officers, three taxi drivers, three of Sam and Martha’s grandsons, two of their children, one daughter-in-law, and one niece, as well as the salesman who sold the horse mane shears used in the cuttings. Some witnesses were subpoenaed to testify. All except Sam Mullet’s daughter-in-law, Nancy Mullet, and me were directly involved in activities related to one or more of the assaults. None of the defendants took the witness stand, nor did the defense present any expert witnesses to testify on their behalf.

For the witnesses who had relatives in the Bergholz community, testifying was an excruciating emotional ordeal. After six years of painful separation from her family, Barb Miller took the witness stand to testify for the prosecution against her brother (Sam Mullet), three of her sons (Lester, Eli, and Raymond), and her five daughters-in-law (Anna, Emma, Lovina, Kathryn, and Elizabeth)—all of whom carefully watched her as they sat with their attorneys in the courtroom. The pain of a mother’s heart, already broken many times, was poured out in public. There she stood, called to tell the truth as she knew it, as the stenographers listened and recorded every word in the public record forever. “It was,” she said, “the worst thing I have ever done.”12

Nancy (Miller) Burkholder, daughter of Barb, was compelled by law to testify. Still living in Bergholz, she was married to one of the defendants, Freeman Burkholder. Standing at the front of the courtroom, she answered questions from the prosecution that could incriminate her husband and her uncle Sam, as well as her three brothers, five sisters-in-law, and the other defendants, all of whom, with the exception of Preacher Levi F. Miller, were her relatives.13

Nancy Mullet, married to Sam’s son Eli, was now living with him far from Bergholz. She stood and spoke, over strident objections from the defense. At the request of the prosecutors, the court permitted her testimony to illustrate Bishop Mullet’s “control over the members of his community.” Nancy testified about her father-in-law’s sexual intimacies with her. In Amish communities, the three-letter word sex is taboo, only spoken in the bedroom (if even there), yet here she was, speaking about it in public. Although Nancy spoke truthfully, her words seemed laced with shame.14

Anna Shrock, wife of Melvin (who died in January 2012), was called to testify. Fully aware that her words could impact the jury’s

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