The Justin Mohn case is the Pennsylvania prosecution of a 33-year-old Levittown man who shot and beheaded his father in January 2024, posted a YouTube video displaying the severed head while calling for violence against federal workers, and in July 2025 was convicted of first-degree murder and terrorism. He received two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole and became the first person convicted under Pennsylvania’s terrorism statute.1Bucks County Government. Justin Mohn Convicted First-Degree Murder
What Happened on January 30, 2024
Justin D. Mohn shot his 68-year-old father, Michael F. Mohn, with a newly purchased 9mm pistol inside the family home in Levittown, then decapitated him using a kitchen knife and a machete.2CNN. Justin Mohn Guilty Murder Father Michael Mohn was a 20-year federal employee who worked as an engineer in the geoenvironmental section of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District. He lived in the home with his wife, Denice, and his adult son Justin, whom the couple had been supporting financially while he looked for work.3CNN. Justin Mohn Pennsylvania Beheading Trial
Afterward, Mohn recorded a roughly 14-minute video in which he held up his father’s severed head, identified him by name, and delivered a rant filled with anti-government and conspiracy content.4WHYY. Levittown Beheading Video Justin Mohn YouTube He called for the “torture and execution of federal workers” and directed militias to seize federal law enforcement offices and courthouses.5Washington Post. Justin Mohn PA Beheading Suspect He posted the video to YouTube at roughly 10:00 p.m. It stayed live for about five hours and was viewed more than 5,000 times before YouTube removed it for violating its graphic violence policy and terminated his channel.6CBS News. Beheading Video YouTube Responds Justin Mohn Charged Murder A clip spread to X, where it remained for at least seven hours and drew 20,000 views.7Fortune. YouTube Beheading Video Posted for Hours Pennsylvania Bucks County
The Arrest at Fort Indiantown Gap
After posting the video, Mohn drove roughly 100 miles to Fort Indiantown Gap, the Pennsylvania National Guard headquarters. Prosecutors said he went there to try to convince troops to “raise arms against the federal government.”8ABC News. Man Accused Decapitating Father National Guard He climbed a barbed-wire fence into the installation and was found by Fort Indiantown Gap police. He was carrying a loaded Sig Sauer 9mm pistol missing one round.9ABC7 NY. Justin Mohn Terrorism Charges Pennsylvania He was taken into custody without incident at about 9:25 p.m.10NBC News. PA Man Arrested Decapitating Father YouTube Video
Investigators later found a USB drive in his possession that held photographs of federal buildings and a folder of instructions on constructing explosive devices.11Bucks County Courier Times. New Charges Justin Mohn Michael Mohn
Who Justin Mohn Was Before the Murder
Mohn had a documented trail of grievances, failed lawsuits, and extremist writing going back years. In 2017, while living in Colorado, he allegedly threatened to sue a credit union where he worked for $10 million; three employees sought protection orders, and the matter ended with Mohn agreeing not to contact them in exchange for a $10,000 payment.12NBC Philadelphia. Officials to Reveal New Details on Man Accused of Beheading Father
In 2018, he sued Progressive Insurance for employment discrimination, alleging he had been fired for being a man who was “intelligent, overqualified and overeducated.” A federal judge in Colorado found no evidence for his claims and an appeals court upheld the ruling. He then filed multiple suits against the U.S. Department of Education over his student loans, all of which were dismissed; one 2022 order noted it was the “third time this year” Mohn had sued over his loans.13Bucks County Courier Times. Justin Mohn Levittown Beheading Murder Bucks County Colorado Lawsuit A 2023 suit against the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General over student loans was also dismissed.
He self-published several books on Amazon. The Revolution Leader’s Survival Guide (2017) contained a letter he had written to Donald Trump warning of a “peaceful revolution.” America’s Coming Bloody Revolution (2020) argued that violent revolution was “inevitable” and suggested that most people born before 1991 should be killed as “traitors.” The Second Messiah: King of Earth (2020) was a loosely autobiographical work involving a satanic cult and the Democratic Party. Amazon removed the books after his arrest.14New York Post. Son Charged With Decapitating Dad Wrote About Killing Family
The Competency Ruling
On August 1, 2024, after a nearly five-hour hearing, Bucks County Judge Stephen Corr ruled that Mohn was competent to stand trial.15CNN. Justin Mohn Competent Pennsylvania Beheading Forensic psychologist Dr. Kelly Chamberlain, called by the prosecution, testified that Mohn was “intelligent, calm and socially appropriate,” appeared “self-interested,” and objected to his own attorney’s plan to raise a mental health defense. She called his writings “rhetoric” rather than delusion. Defense psychiatrist Dr. John Markey, who had initially diagnosed schizophrenia, revised his assessment to “delusional disorder,” pointing to Mohn’s belief that he was a messianic or “King David-like figure” being persecuted by the federal government and his belief that his public defender was a federal agent.16NBC Philadelphia. Man Accused of Decapitating Father Is Competent to Stand Trial Judge Rules At the hearing, Mohn correctly identified the charges against him and asked to dismiss his public defender; Judge Corr granted the request and appointed new counsel.176ABC. Bucks County Man Accused Beheading Father Competent Stand Trial Judge Rules
The Trial and First-Degree Murder Conviction
Mohn’s trial began Monday, July 7, 2025, in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas before Judge Corr. It was a bench trial, with the judge alone deciding the verdict, and it lasted five days.
Prosecutors described the killing as a “cold, calculated, organized plan” to intimidate federal workers and called it “something straight out of a horror film.”18NBC Philadelphia. Justin Mohn Takes Stand Testimony Shot Beheaded Killed Father The evidence included the YouTube video, a notebook with the words “Boom” and “Slice,” the USB drive of federal building photos and explosives instructions, crime scene photographs, and more than 11 letters Mohn had written from jail over 19 months. In those letters, he admitted killing and decapitating his father and described the act as a “citizen’s arrest” for treason meant to trigger a violent overthrow of the federal government.19Bucks County Courier Times. Justin Mohn Decapitation Murder Trial Continues Letters Confessing
Forensic pathologist Dr. Ian Hood testified that Michael Mohn’s body had no signs of a struggle or defensive injuries, that he was already dead when his head was removed, and that the shooter had fired from at least one foot away. Denice Mohn also testified, and the court heard that she had previously contacted police about her son’s online posts.
Mohn took the stand for more than two hours. He testified that the shooting was “Plan B,” saying he had originally planned a “citizen’s arrest” of his father for “treason” and that his father, a martial artist, had reached for the gun. He said he decapitated the body to “send a message to federal government workers” and force resignations, believing “a severed head would not only go viral but could lessen the violence.”18NBC Philadelphia. Justin Mohn Takes Stand Testimony Shot Beheaded Killed Father Defense attorney Steven Jones argued that his client had attempted a lawful citizen’s arrest and conceded guilt only on abuse of a corpse; he called Mohn’s writings and self-described militia “garbage.”20LevittownNow. Justin Mohn’s Fate Rests With Judge After Closing Arguments
On Friday, July 11, 2025, Judge Corr found Mohn guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, two counts of terrorism, abuse of a corpse, two counts of possession of an instrument of crime, firearms not to be carried without a license, possession of a weapon, criminal use of a communication facility, terroristic threats, and defiant trespassing.21CrimeWatch. Justin Mohn Convicted First-Degree Murder Sentenced Life Without Parole The terrorism counts were the first convictions ever obtained under Pennsylvania’s terrorism statute, 18 Pa.C.S. ยง 2717.1Bucks County Government. Justin Mohn Convicted First-Degree Murder
Sentencing and the Family’s Statements
Mohn was sentenced immediately after the verdict to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. Michael Mohn’s daughter, Stephanie Smith, told the court that her “whole family feels violated by the defendant’s extremely calculated and premeditated betrayal and from the posting of the horrifying video that he published online for thousands to see.” She noted that the video had been recorded in her childhood bedroom, and she urged the court to impose life without parole, saying Justin Mohn’s “hateful views do not represent the family.”22Bucks County Courier Times. Bucks County Justin Mohn Trial Levittown Guilty Verdict
Denice Mohn said she felt she had lost both a husband and a son on January 30, 2024. Her statement, read by prosecutor Ashley Towhey, said: “I will carry the vision of my husband, crumbled on the bathroom floor where Justin left him for me to find. It will haunt me for the rest of my life.” She said her son should “never be given a chance to hurt anyone else or spread his hateful ideology.” Zachary Mohn, another son, called for “permanent and irreversible incarceration.” David Mohn, Michael’s brother, called the crime “selfish and cowardly.”23LevittownNow. Family Shares Heartbreak Loss During Justin Mohn Murder Sentencing
Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn called the crime “unimaginable, unfathomable” and said Mohn showed a “complete and utter lack of remorse.”2CNN. Justin Mohn Guilty Murder Father
The Failed Appeal
Mohn filed a post-sentence motion seeking acquittal and challenging the weight of the evidence. The trial court denied it, and he appealed to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. In a memorandum issued March 2, 2026, a three-judge panel affirmed the sentence. President Superior Court Judge Anne E. Lazarus wrote that Mohn had “conflated sufficiency and weight [of evidence] in violation of our case law” and that his claims were therefore waived.24LevittownNow. Superior Court Rejects Justin Mohn’s Appeal in Murder Beheading Case His argument had been that the verdict was against the “manifest weight of the evidence” and that his actions were “justified and therefore lawful.”25Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Commonwealth v. Mohn, 1868 EDA 2025 Mohn remains in state prison serving a double life sentence without the possibility of parole.