US man gets life for beheading father as political statement and posting video [View all]

[DBoon]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/14/pennsylvania-beheading-murder-terrorism

A Pennsylvania man has been ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted of fatally shooting his federal government employee father, decapitating him and brandishing the severed head in an online video that called for the execution of other civil servants.

Justin Mohn, 33, was sentenced on Friday after a five-day trial by a judge that found him guilty of murder and terrorism charges, Pennsylvania state prosecutors said.

Mohn’s conviction is the first time anyone in Pennsylvania has been found guilty under the state’s terrorism statute. The local district attorney, Jennifer Schorn, said “the chilling use of [Mohn’s] father’s death as a political statement” helped “underscore the extreme danger he poses”.

Among the most damning pieces of evidence in the case was a 15-minute video published on YouTube after the slaying of Michael Mohn, 68, who had long worked for the US army corps of engineers. In it, Justin Mohn, his son, spouted rightwing conspiracy theories, lobbied for militias to torture and execute his father’s fellow federal government colleagues, and denounced immigration, LGBTQ+ people, the Black Lives Matter movement and antifascist activists.