Judge ends parole visits for ex-cult leader with cancer

Associated Press/February 10, 2007

Miami -- A federal judge ruled Friday that parole authorities should stop visiting cult leader and convicted killer Yahweh Ben Yahweh because of his terminal cancer.

Yahweh's attorneys, Steven Potolsky and Jayne Weintraub, asked U.S. District Court Judge Alan Gold to overrule the two previous parole commission decisions and stop supervision.

Gold said he would grant the request, but he stayed the decision pending appeal from the parole commission. He said he would issue a written order early next week.

Yahweh Ben Yahweh has terminal cancer and Potolsky told the court that Yahweh's "dying wish" was to end parole supervision. His doctor, Wynne Steinsnyder, said after the hearing that he didn't expect Yahweh to live much longer.

"I'm fighting to keep him alive," Steinsnyder said.

Born Hulon Mitchell Jr., Yahweh changed his name to the Hebrew words for "God, son of God." He was released from prison in Sept. 2001 after serving 11 years of an 18-year federal prison sentence for a racketeering conviction.