The religious beliefs of victims of alleged beard- and hair-cutting attacks in Ohio Amish country are what matters in the case, not those of the defendants, a federal judge ruled Thursday in rejecting the defendants' challenges of the federal hate crimes law.
The defendants, who include 16 members of an eastern Ohio breakaway Amish group, argued the alleged attacks last fall weren't hate crimes but internal church disciplinary matters not involving anti-Amish bias. The defendants also argued that the federal hate crime law violates their First Amendment rights of religious expression.
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