A judge in Cleveland has rejected a request for a new trial made by the leader of an Amish group convicted in hair-cutting attacks on members of his own faith.

Federal judge Dan Polster on Thursday also declined to overturn the convictions of Samuel Mullet Sr. and his followers who joined the appeal.

A jury last fall convicted Mullet and 15 other Amish men and women of hate crimes for a series of hair- and beard- cutting attacks stemming from a religious dispute.

Mullet's attorney had argued that newly discovered evidence that included notes from an Associated Press reporter's interview with Mullet should allow him another trial.

But the judge wrote that the evidence was not new and could have been sought before the trial began.