Black Messiah Cult Leader Seeks Release
Pastor Dale Morgan
Black Messiah Cult Leader Seeks Release
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Friday October 6, 2006 6:01 PM
By CURT ANDERSON
AP Legal Affairs Writer
MIAMI (AP) - Yahweh Ben Yahweh, a cult leader linked to nearly two dozen
gruesome killings in the 1980s, is seeking immediate release from parole
supervision because he has advanced cancer and wants to die with
dignity, his lawyers said Friday.
Yahweh, 70, is asking U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke to order the
federal Parole Commission to quickly make a decision on whether to
terminate parole in his case. He lives in the Miami area.
``He is not a risk of flight. He is not a danger to the community. He is
frail and he is dying,'' said attorney Jayne Weintraub. ``It's time for
the bars to be removed.''
``He is now unable to walk due to bone and nerve involvement by the
cancer. His prognosis is extremely poor and death appears imminent,''
his doctor, Wynne A. Steinsnyder, wrote in a letter dated Sept. 28 filed
with the court.
Yahweh was born Hulon Mitchell Jr. in Oklahoma and changed his name to
the Hebrew words for ``God, son of God.'' He served 11 years of an
18-year federal prison sentence for a racketeering conviction stemming
from his role in up to 23 murders, some involving beheadings and severed
ears and fingers.
He was once head of the Nation of Yahweh, boasting hundreds of followers
who often dressed completely in white and who once won praise for
rehabilitating blighted Miami neighborhoods. Yahweh, a self-proclaimed
``Black Messiah,'' preached a brand of racial and religious separatism
for blacks and later was accused of sending close followers to kill
``white devils'' and bring back body parts as proof.
Yahweh was released from prison on parole on Sept. 26, 2001. His lawyers
argue that under federal law his parole should be concluded because he
has followed all the restrictions - including no contact with his former
followers - and has not been involved in any criminal activity in the
past five years.
The law, however, gives the Parole Commission discretion on whether to
end parole after five years - it is not automatic. A hearing officer is
scheduled to consider the case on Oct. 19, which would be followed by a
recommendation to the commission itself before a final decision is made.
``It's an opportunity for the parolee to make a case as well as an
opportunity for the commission to find out more,'' said Tom Hutchison,
the commission's chief of staff.
But that could take weeks, if not months. Weintraub and co-counsel
Steven Polotsky want the judge to accelerate the process, in part
because Yahweh's doctor says being on parole causes stress that is
hampering his cancer treatment.
Beyond that, the lawyers say in court papers that Yahweh ``is entitled
to, and greatly desirous of, the simple dignity of being permitted to
die a free man, not a parolee.''
Cooke did not indicate when she would rule but did order government
attorneys to respond this week to Yahweh's petition.