October 21, 2015
Brother in Church Beating Death to Testify Against Half-Sister
Carolyn Thompson READ TIME: 1 MIN.
The surviving brother of a pair of teenagers viciously beaten during a church counseling session is scheduled to testify against his half-sister, who is among six people charged in the attack.
Seventeen-year-old Christopher Leonard is expected to detail the Oct. 11 pummeling during a preliminary hearing Wednesday on assault charges against 33-year-old Sarah Ferguson.
Nineteen-year-old Lucas Leonard died in the attack at the Word of Life Christian Church in the central New York town of New Hartford.
Authorities allege Ferguson, along with the victims' parents, Bruce and Deborah Leonard, and three others, beat the brothers as punishment for plans to leave the insular church.
Bruce and Deborah Leonard are charged with manslaughter.
Ferguson, a mother of four, and the others face lesser assault counts.
All have pleaded not guilty.
