Judge Stays Release of Ex-Cult leader Yahweh Ben Yahweh

MIAMI — A judge ordered the release of former cult leader Yahweh Ben Yahweh from parole supervision because of advanced cancer, but then stayed his decision Friday pending an appeal by the federal Parole Commission.

U.S. District Court Judge Alan Gold said he would issue a written order early next week after the Parole Commission files its appeal.

Yahweh’s dying wish was to end parole supervision, his attorney, Steven Potolsky, told the court. His doctor, Wynne Steinsnyder, said after the hearing that he did not expect Yahweh to live much longer.

“I’m fighting to keep him alive,” Steinsnyder said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marlene Rodriguez said the government still considered the ailing man a threat.

“Yahweh can and will exert influence over his followers,” Rodriguez said.

Yahweh was released from prison in 2001 after 11 years for a racketeering conviction stemming from his role in up to 23 murders in the 1980s, some involving beheadings and severed ears and fingers.

He was born Hulon Mitchell Jr. in Oklahoma but changed his name to the Hebrew words for “God, son of God.” As the head of the Nation of Yahweh, he preached racial and religious separatism to followers.

He was accused of sending followers to kill “white devils” and bring back proof.

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