A neo-Nazi gang member accused of murder in Florida is to have his swastika tattoo covered by make-up during the trial against him, in order not to influence the members of the jury. John Allen Ditullio has a 6-inch swastika under his right ear, barbed wire on the right side of his face and an extreme vulgarity scrawled on one side of his neck. A judge ruled that the state must pay a make-up artist to cover them up during trial, but added that any tattoos Ditullio had before his arrest in 2006 should not be covered.
The judge, acting on a request by Ditullio's lawyer, ruled that the tattoos were potentially offensive and could influence a jury's opinion in the state's case against the 23-year-old accused of donning a gas mask, breaking into a neighbor's home and stabbing two people, killing one of them. Ditullio's lawyer said: "Whenever someone is facing the death penalty, they should get a fair trial."
