Man Accused of Murdering Father and POSTING SEVERED HEAD VIDEO Declared Fit for Trial
The man accused of murdering his father in their suburban Philadelphia home earlier this year and uploading a video of the severed head online is competent to stand trial, a judge concluded Thursday.
Judge Stephen Corr decided from the bench following a nearly five-hour process in which Justin Mohn, dressed in a yellow jumpsuit with “inmate” printed on the back and his wrists tied in front of him, sat in court and smiled, nodded, or shook his head throughout the testimony.
Corr also approved Mohn’s request to remove his public defender and assign a new attorney to handle the case. When asked if he’d be willing to work with a new counsel, Mohn replied, “Absolutely.”
The decision means that the case, which made headlines with Mohn’s arrest at a National Guard base two hours from his and his parents’ Levittown home and after the sickening video had been viewed several times online, will proceed.
Mohn nodded and smiled widely at prosecution witness Dr. Kelly Chamberlain, a forensic psychologist, who testified that Mohn was bright, calm, and socially suitable in her two meetings with him.
Chamberlain said that Mohn obviously objected to his attorney’s approach of pursuing a mental health defense and appeared properly “self-interested.”
She challenged the findings of defense expert witness Dr. John Markey, who claimed to have visited with Mohn four times and initially diagnosed him with schizophrenia, but on Thursday changed his diagnosis to delusional illness. He especially cited Mohn’s letters, in which he claimed to be the Messiah, a King David-like person whom the federal government was persecuting.
Mohn became convinced that his public defender was a government agent working against him, according to Markey, and he penned a letter to Russia’s ambassador to the United States, pleading for a deal to grant Mohn asylum and apologizing to President Vladimir Putin for pretending to be Russia’s czar.
“It’s all delusional,” Markey remarked.
Chamberlain stated that she does not believe he intended to claim he was the Messiah, and that his writings indicate that “Satanic” groups in the United States believe he is the Messiah.
“I believe it could be construed as delusional,” she remarked, adding that his writing was part of his propaganda. “He feels people like him have been kind of screwed over.”
Mohn nodded agreeably during her testimony.
Another prosecution witness, prison officer Ralph Taylor, stated that Mohn was “extremely polite” and respectful in jail. Corr questioned him at the opening of the proceedings, asking if he knew why he was there, and Mohn explained that he was facing several counts, the “most serious” of which were first-degree murder allegations.
According to prosecutors, all of this added up to someone who could participate in his legal defense.
According to authorities, Mohn fatally shot his father with a revolver before decapitating Michael Mohn with a kitchen knife and machete in their Levittown home.
Justin Mohn then made a video in which he held up his father’s head and identified him as a 20-year federal employee, while also calling for violence against the government. Prosecutors said they discovered blood stains on the desk in the room where the video was recorded, as well as a computer with many tabs open, including one for YouTube.
In the video, Justin Mohn also promotes some conspiracy theories and rants about the Biden administration, immigration and the border, fiscal policies, urban violence, and the Ukraine war.
The video was up on YouTube for several hours before being taken down.
Justin Mohn is charged with first-degree murder, abusing a corpse, and possessing criminal instruments. He’s being held without bail.