The Pennsylvania man charged with fatally taking pictures then beheading his father and posting it on YouTube stated on the stand Wednesday that the killing was “Plan B” after attempting to arrest his father for what he known as false statements and treason.
Justin D. Mohn, 33, took the stand in a suburban Philadelphia courtroom on the third day of his trial on homicide and different expenses stemming from the Jan. 30, 2024, murder of his father, Michael F. Mohn.
Mohn, wearing a blue sport coat, shirt and tie, together with his arms shackled to his waist, spoke clearly with none obvious emotion for greater than two hours of direct testimony and cross examination.
Responding to questions from his legal professional, Steven Jones, Mohn stated he shot his father within the rest room of the household’s Levittown dwelling after telling him he was going to arrest him. Mohn stated his father, who he stated was an skilled martial artist, advised him he would kill him earlier than he let that occur and reached for the gun.
“Unfortunately, he resisted,” Justin Mohn stated, including: “I was hoping to perform a citizen’s arrest on my father for, ultimately, treason.”
He described a listing from his pocket book, proven through the trial, that had the strains “Boom” and “Slice” as his “Plan B,” and stated he anticipated his father to associate with the citizen’s arrest.
He stated he differed politically from his dad and mom, describing them as on the left. He advised the courtroom he believed his father wished to cease him from changing into a politician much like President Donald Trump and that his father gave false statements in an unrelated civil case Justin Mohn introduced in federal courtroom.
Requested why he beheaded his father, he stated he wished to ship a message to federal authorities staff to satisfy his calls for, which included their resignation in addition to the cancellation of public debt, amongst different issues. He stated he didn’t do it out of hatred for his father or to trigger trauma to his household. His mom, Denice Mohn, cried in courtroom on the finish of the direct questioning from his legal professional.
“I knew something such as a severed head would not only go viral but could lessen the violence,” Justin Mohn stated.
Prosecutors stated Mohn shot his father with a newly bought pistol, then decapitated him with a kitchen knife and machete. The 14-minute YouTube video he posted was stay for a number of hours earlier than it was eliminated.
Mohn was arrested later that day after scaling a fence at Fort Indiantown Hole, the state’s Nationwide Guard headquarters. He stated in courtroom he knew it was flawed to leap the fence on the web site. Prosecutors stated he known as for others to hitch him in making an attempt to overthrow the U.S. authorities.
Mohn had a USB gadget containing pictures of federal buildings and obvious directions for making explosives when he was arrested, authorities stated.
He additionally expressed violent anti-government rhetoric in writings he printed on-line, going again a number of years. Earlier within the trial, the choose heard from Justin Mohn’s mom, who stated police got here to the home he shared together with his dad and mom and warned him about his on-line postings earlier than the killing.
Each morning, the NY POSTcast provides a deep dive into the headlines with the Submit’s signature mixture of politics, enterprise, popular culture, true crime and all the things in between. Subscribe right here!
Denice Mohn testified that she and her husband had been providing monetary assist and steerage as Justin Mohn appeared for a job.
Prosecutors described the murder as “something straight out of a horror film.” 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 staff, calling it a “cold, calculated, organized plan.”
The YouTube video included rants in regards to the authorities, immigration and the border, fiscal coverage, city crime and the warfare in Ukraine.
In courtroom, Michael Mohn was remembered as a very good neighbor and supportive father. Within the video posted on YouTube, Justin Mohn described his father as a 20-year federal worker and known as him a traitor.
Throughout a competency listening to final yr, a protection professional stated Mohn wrote a letter to Russia’s ambassador to the USA searching for to strike a deal to provide Mohn refuge and apologizing to President Vladimir Putin for claiming to be the czar of Russia. The choose dominated Mohn was competent to face trial.
Proof introduced on the trial included graphic pictures and the video posted to YouTube. The choose warned members of the general public on the trial in regards to the pictures and stated they may go away earlier than the pictures had been proven. The proceedings are generally known as a bench trial, with solely a choose, not a jury.
