Pa. man who allegedly decapitated dad and posted video on YouTube deemed competent to stand trial

BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. (TCN) -- A judge ruled this week that a 32-year-old man who allegedly decapitated his father with a machete and posted a YouTube video while holding his father’s severed head is competent to stand trial.

The Associated Press reports a judge made the decision regarding Justin Mohn’s competency on Thursday, Aug. 1. Mohn was also given permission to retain a different attorney to represent him. One of the forensic psychologists reportedly said at Thursday’s hearing that Mohn appeared to be smart and socially aware. An expert brought by the defense argued Mohn suffered from delusions.

The defense’s expert, Dr. John Markey, reportedly said Mohn believed his attorney was a federal agent and that he wrote a letter to the Russian ambassador to the United States apologizing to President Vladimir Putin for being the real czar of the country. He also apparently asked for a compromise that would allow him to get protection in Russia.

Markey said in court, "It’s all delusional."

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office charged Mohn with 15 counts, including first-degree murder and three counts of terrorism, for the death of 68-year-old Michael Mohn.

According to the criminal complaint, on Jan. 30 at just before 7 p.m., Justin Mohn’s mother, Denise Mohn, called the Middletown Township Police Department and said she came home to find her husband dead. Officers arrived at the home on Upper Orchard Drive and found Michael Mohn’s body in a downstairs bathroom bathtub. His head was reportedly discovered in a plastic bag in a cooking pot in a bedroom. Denise Mohn said she left home that day at about 2 p.m., and that Michael Mohn and Justin Mohn were together.

Later that day, police learned about a video posted to what is believed to be Justin Mohn’s YouTube channel, which was called "Mohn’s Militia — Call to Arms to American Patriots." During the video, Justin Mohn holds up his father’s head, identifies him, and says his father "is now in hell for eternity." Mohn was reportedly wearing gloves in the video that matched others found at the crime scene.

The criminal complaint says Mohn’s video called for people to kill federal agents, as well as to have them "tortured for information, and publicly executed." He allegedly named a U.S. District Court judge as a target and "stated that the capturing and torturing of federal employees and their associates will not stop until the people he has deemed traitors to America are identified and completely wiped out."

Investigators say the room seen in Mohn’s video matched his bedroom in the house. They found blood-soaked gloves in the room, as well as bloodstains on his desk.

Mohn reportedly stole his father’s car and drove to the National Guard base Fort Indiantown Gap, where he was eventually captured and arrested.

The medical examiner who conducted Michael Mohn’s autopsy determined he had been shot once in the head with a 9 mm bullet, then decapitated with a kitchen knife and machete. Justin Mohn reportedly did not have a license to carry a concealed weapon.

According to the district attorney’s office, Michael Mohn was a former federal employee who worked for the Army Corps of Engineers..

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