LEVITTOWN, Pa. (BN24) — A Pennsylvania man who posted a graphic video of his father’s decapitated head on YouTube was convicted of murder Friday and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Bucks County Judge Stephen A. Corr found 33-year-old Justin D. Mohn guilty of first-degree murder in the January 2024 killing of his father, 68-year-old Michael F. Mohn, inside their suburban Philadelphia home.
Following the verdict, Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn described the crime as “unimaginable, unfathomable,” and said Mohn showed “a complete and utter lack of remorse.”
“We are satisfied this was the right outcome to guarantee that the community at large is safe from Justin Mohn,” Schorn told reporters after the hearing.
Prosecutors said Mohn shot his father with a recently purchased pistol and then used a kitchen knife and machete to sever his head. Authorities said he recorded a 14-minute video showing the decapitation and uploaded it to YouTube, where it remained publicly viewable for several hours before being removed.
During the trial, Mohn testified that he believed he was carrying out a citizen’s arrest over what he called “treason” and “false statements.” He said he decapitated his father to send a message to federal workers demanding their resignation.
Mohn was also convicted of multiple other offenses, including possession of an instrument of crime, firearms violations, criminal use of a communication facility, terroristic threats, abuse of a corpse, and defiant trespass.
In victim impact statements read aloud in court, family members remembered Michael Mohn as a devoted husband and father who enjoyed reading, exercising, and playing guitar.
“It’s unimaginable what the defendant did to his father and to his family,” Schorn said. “I know this verdict does provide some level of justice, but it will never heal their wounds.”
After the killing, Mohn drove to Fort Indiantown Gap, the headquarters of the Pennsylvania National Guard, where he scaled a fence and called on others to help overthrow the U.S. government. Authorities said he was carrying a USB device containing photographs of federal buildings and instructions for making explosives.
Prosecutors described Mohn’s actions as part of a “cold, calculated, organized plan,” saying he intended to intimidate federal employees.
The YouTube video featured rants on a range of topics, including immigration, government fiscal policy, urban crime, and the war in Ukraine. In it, Mohn called his father—who worked for two decades as an engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—a “traitor.”
During a competency hearing last year, a defense expert testified that Mohn had written a letter to Russia’s ambassador in Washington, D.C., offering to share information in exchange for refuge and apologizing to President Vladimir Putin for claiming to be the czar of Russia. The judge ultimately ruled that Mohn was competent to stand trial.
Evidence presented in court included graphic photos and the YouTube recording. Judge Corr, who presided over the bench trial without a jury, warned those in the courtroom about the nature of the images and gave them the option to leave before they were shown.
Mohn’s attorney, Steven M. Jones, called the case “undoubtedly difficult,” noting that prosecutors had initially sought the death penalty before reaching the plea arrangement that spared Mohn’s life.
“Cases involving the loss of life are always the most difficult, and that difficulty is compounded when the prosecution seeks the death penalty,” Jones said in an email. He declined to comment on whether his client plans to appeal.
Associated Press
