CLEVELAND (AP) - An Amish preacher in Ohio says he watched three men cut his father's hair and beard during an attack last fall that left his father shaking and relatives screaming.
Andy Hershberger is the first witness in the trial of a breakaway Amish group from eastern Ohio accused of hate crimes in hair-cutting attacks on fellow Amish.
He testified Wednesday in Cleveland that his father, an Amish bishop, pleaded for the men not to shear him. But he says within minutes, the hair from his father's beard had been cut and scattered across the floor. He says hair clumps were missing from his father's head and his scalp was bleeding.
Beards and hair have great religious importance among the Amish.
A defense attorney has likened the cuttings to a family feud.