A Pennsylvania man accused of killing his father and posting a video of his severed head online, as well as calling on others to assist him in his attempt to overthrow the United States government, is scheduled to stand trial in the Philadelphia suburbs on Monday.
Justin D. Mohn, 33, is charged with murder, abuse of a corpse, terrorism-related crimes, and other offences in the 2024 killing of Michael F. Mohn at the Levittown home where they lived with the defendant’s mother. She discovered her husband’s body in the bathroom.
Prosecutors claim Justin Mohn shot his father with a newly purchased pistol and then decapitated him with a kitchen knife and machete. The 14-minute YouTube video remained live for several hours before being removed.
Mohn was arrested later that day with a handgun for allegedly climbing a 20-foot (6-meter) fence at Fort Indiantown Gap, the state’s National Guard headquarters.
He had hoped to persuade the soldiers to “mobilise the Pennsylvania National Guard to raise arms against the federal government,” Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn stated at a news conference last year.
Authorities say Mohn was arrested with a USB device containing photos of federal buildings and apparent instructions for making explosives.
He also used violent anti-government rhetoric in online writings, and the YouTube video featured rants about the government, immigration and the border, fiscal policy, urban crime, and the war in Ukraine.
Mohn’s defence attorney, Steven M. Jones, stated last week that he did not expect the case to be resolved through a plea deal.
Michael Mohn, 68, was a geoenvironmental engineer for the United States Army Corps of Engineers. In the video, Justin Mohn referred to his father as a 20-year federal employee and a traitor.
During a competency hearing last year, a defence expert stated that Mohn wrote a letter to Russia’s ambassador to the United States, requesting a deal to give him refuge and apologising to President Vladimir Putin for claiming to be Russia’s czar.
