After a five-hour proceeding last week, a Pennsylvania judge has ruled that Justin Mohn is competent to stand trial in the beheading death of his father and subsequent posting of a video “manifesto” with his severed head.
After having previously been determined to have schizophrenia by Dr. John Markey, who spent time with Mohn on four different occasions, the doctor changed his diagnosis to delusional disorder, based on new findings. But none of that kept Mohn from being declared competent to stand trial.
On Thursday in Doylestown, Mohn was declared mentally fit to stand trial for the alleged murder and beheading of his father, followed by a video “manifesto” posted to YouTube that appeared to include his father’s severed head.
Judge Stephen Corr made his ruling after a five-hour process that involved multiple witnesses. During the proceeding, he also granted Mohn’s wish to dismiss his public defender and have a different attorney appointed to handle his case.
As reported by CNN, Mohn could be seen nodding and smiling as prosecution witness Dr. Kelly Chamberlain described him as intelligent, calm and socially appropriate. She said that it was Mohn who objected to his defense attorney’s attempt to use mental health as a defense, arguing he was appropriately “self-interested.”
Markey continued to counter the prosecution’s case that Mohn was of sound mind by saying with the defendant “it’s all delusional.” He cited several letters, in which Mohn reportedly claimed to be the messiah, a King David-like figure persecuted by the federal government.
According to Markey, Mohn believed his own attoreny was a federal agent working against him. He further claimed that Mohn had written a letter to Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. seeking to strike a deal for refuge in Russia, while also apologizing to President Vladimir Putin for claiming to be the czar of Russia.
YouTube/Bucks County DA
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Chamberlain pushed back on this narrative, arguing that she doesn’t believe Mohn meant to say he was the messiah, but rather that he believed “Satanic” cults in the U.S. think he’s the messiah.
“I believe it could be construed as delusional,” she conceded, but said that his letters were part of a recurring and common rhetoric. “He feels people like him have been kind of screwed over.” As she spoke, Mohn nodded, per CNN.
Mohn was first arrested in late January for the murder of his father. On February 2, the DA in Bucks County, PA released disturbing details about the crime.
In a press conference, DA Jennifer Schorn revealed that police were dispatched to Michael Mohn’s Middletown Township after his wife Denise came home to find her husband decapitated inside the bathroom.
When police arrived, they found the decapitated body, before locating Michael’s head wrapped in saran wrap and in a cooking pot in an adjacent room.
Clermont County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook
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Schorn revealed police received multiple phone calls about a YouTube video Justin posted in which he was seen holding up his father’s head. The 14:32-long video was titled “Mohn’s Militia,” with Schorn describing it as a “call to arms for American patriots.”
She said it appeared to be filmed in the same bedroom where bloody gloves were found — and showed Justin “holding a human head detached from the body which is wrapped in plastic,” saying it belonged to his father, who was “in hell for being a traitor to his country.”
In the video, he went on to call himself “the commander of America’s national network of militia” and advised his followers to torture and kill federal employees.
According to Schorn, Justin was apprehended after authorities pinged his cell phone — and located him at a National Guard training center at Fort Indiantown Gap. He had allegedly “climbed a barbed wire fence, and entered the secured military installation,” but was taken in without incident.
The victim died from a gunshot wound to the head and was dismembered with both a knife and machete after his death. According to Schorn, the suspect purchased the gun used in the crime the day before — and did so legally.
“There was nothing legally precluding him from buying that gun. In fact, our investigation has revealed he surrendered his medical marijuana card so as to be eligible to legally possess a gun,” she claimed. “Also shows you the clear state of mind that he was in having planned what he ultimately carried out.”
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She said he had no history of diagnosed mental health issues and had never been committed, either voluntarily or involuntarily.
She went on to call it “quite horrifying” how many people viewed the YouTube video before it was taken down — calling it “incredibly concerning” as well. She added that they were able to capture the footage, however, which was important to have from an evidentiary standpoint.
Middletown Township Police Chief Joseph Bartorilla said his department, specifically, had three prior instances involving Mohn — starting with one in 2011, when the suspect was 19 and had an argument with someone in his driveway. That didn’t rise to anything criminal, said Bartorilla.
The second instance was in 2019, when Mohn called police saying he received a threat from someone he was suing … while the third came in 2023, when his employer in Philadelphia called police to express “concern about Justin’s behavior at work and wanted legal advice on how to go about terminating his employment.”
Bartorilla said the officer referred the caller to seek out legal resources for their concerns, as well as to the Philadelphia Police Department .
“I think there was concern over what Justin was writing, some novels he was writing, but we did not have contact with him after that,” he added. “I don’t think we needed to have contact with him after that.”
Mohn has been charged with first-degree murder, abusing a corpse and possession of instruments of crime. He is being held without bail.
