GUILTY NY - Lucas Leonard, 19, beaten to death, brother injured, New Hartford, 11 Oct 2015

LietKynes

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www.cbsnews.com/news/parents-charged-with-fatally-beating-son-in-new-york-church/
NEW HARTFORD, N.Y. -- A central New York couple has been charged with fatally beating their 19-year-old son inside a church and four fellow church members have been charged with assault in an attack that also left the young man's brother severely injured, police said Tuesday.
His 17-year-old brother is hospitalized in serious condition with injuries from an assault.
Bruce Leonard, 65, and Deborah Leonard, 59, of Clayville, were charged with first-degree manslaughter in the death of their son Lucas,

:gaah:

I am guessing some sort of church-sanctioned discipline ? ( which I disagree with as it so often results in abuse )
Disgusting people.

www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-in...-Fatally-Beating-Son-in-Church-332593162.html
( Pics of the perps :banghead: :mad: )


A few more links :

<modsnip>

www.timesunion.com/news/article/Cops-to-discuss-man-s-fatal-beating-inside-6570174.php

www.cnn.com/2015/10/13/us/new-york-church-assault-case/

www.uticaod.com/article/20151013/NEWS/151019792

wivb.com/2015/10/14/new-york-teen-beaten-to-death-in-church-6-members-charged-with-crimes

www.mtv.com/news/2349125/parents-charged-beating-sons-new-york-church-manslaughter/

www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Cops-to-discuss-man-s-fatal-beating-inside-6569887.php


More like a cult ! Imo.

Rest in peace, Lucas. No one can hurt you any more !
 
There are so many churches called Word of Life it's hard to figure out if this is independent or part of something bigger like this: http://www.wol.org/

I have heard of this school: http://wordoflife.edu/

Whichever it is it does sound cultish and obviously dangerous.

The couple remind me of the Stanley parents.
 
According to Syracuse.com, Bruce and Deborah Leonard have been accused of beating their son Lucas to death(19 years old).His brother (17 years old) was beaten and hospitalized in serious condition. This took place at World of Life Church in New Hartford, NY. Four church members were charged with second degree assault and arrested.
(Source: http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index...hartford_church_4_other_church_members_a.html )

Some neighbors told the local news WKTV they believe the church is a cult.
(Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...embers-are-accused-of-fatally-beating-a-teen/ )
I am keeping the victims in my thoughts and prayers.
 
I just read a news story about this but wondering if this was an "exorcism" ?
 
www.foxnews.com/us/2015/10/14/ny-ch...-beaten-described-as-cult-like/?intcmp=hplnws
"There&#8217;s always been weird things going on,&#8221; Howard told WKTV. &#8220;You always hear dogs, they&#8217;re breeding dogs. The cops have been called there before, they&#8217;re not allowed in the building, they can&#8217;t get in the building.&#8221;

Wonder if they had an illegal dogfighting ring ?
And who called the police ? (I'm assuming the call came from inside the church building ?)
Also curious if le attempted to get a search warrant ?

One unidentified neighbor who lived in the area for more than 10 years told the Syracuse Post-Dispatch she mostly sees church members at night, sometimes as late as 3 a.m., and has heard chants coming from the building.

Hope the surviving brother is able to get away from them for good !

:moo:


Here's another thought... what if one or both brothers "came out" and the adult "church" members flew into a rage ?
A good way to have young people in a church to leave that religion is to mistreat and abuse them.
Despicable .

www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/nationa...-Fatally-Beating-Son-in-Church-332593162.html
A police official said the brutal beatings were part of what members considered a "counseling session. New Hartford Police Chief Michael Inserra said Wednesday that both 19-year-old Lucas and 17-year-old Christopher Leonard were subjected to hours of physical punishment at the Word of Life Church "in hopes that each would confess to prior sins and ask for forgiveness."
 
http://www.wktv.com/news/Neighbors_describe_bizarre_happenings_in_Word_of_Life_Church_.html

CLAYVILLE, NY - Clayville residents living near the Word of Life Church that became the location of a suspicious death described the religion as a cult with 'bizarre' events occurring at the site.

According to the New Hartford Police Department, the church was the site where 19-year-old Lucas Leonard was beaten by his parents, Bruce T. Leonard, 65, and Deborah Leonard, 59. Lucas later died from his injuries.

His 17-year-old brother, Christopher, was found severely injured.

Police have identified a motive, but Lt. Timothy O'Neill declined to comment on whether the parents believed the teens were abusing children.

"There's always been weird things going on," said Julie Howard, who lives near the church on Oneida Street. "You always hear dogs, they're breeding dogs. The cops have been called there before, they're not allowed in the building, they can't get in the building.

- See more at: http://www.wktv.com/news/Neighbors_...ord_of_Life_Church_.html#sthash.pxCe8I2t.dpuf
 
Pictures of all the arrested included in the article.

A counseling session? A young man, their son, is dead! Their other son is in the hospital. That's abuse, not counseling.

Police: Clayville teen killed during church 'counseling session' ]
http://www.uticaod.com/article/20151014/NEWS/151019688/1994/NEWS

"Both had suffered injuries to their stomachs, backs, genitals and thighs, police said. Christopher Leonard remained in serious condition in a local hospital as of Tuesday night."
 
I hope someone not related to any of the cult members can take the 17 year old in. It would be awful if he was returned to anyone having anything to do with this cult. These poor boys, I bet this isn't the first or only time something like this happened, but this time it went too far. Disgusting for sure!
 
Here's another thought... what if one or both brothers "came out" and the adult "church" members flew into a rage ?
A good way to have young people in a church to leave that religion is to mistreat and abuse them.
Despicable .

www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/nationa...-Fatally-Beating-Son-in-Church-332593162.html
A police official said the brutal beatings were part of what members considered a "counseling session. New Hartford Police Chief Michael Inserra said Wednesday that both 19-year-old Lucas and 17-year-old Christopher Leonard were subjected to hours of physical punishment at the Word of Life Church "in hopes that each would confess to prior sins and ask for forgiveness."

IOW, having failed in their attempt to pray the gay away, they just gave up and beat him to death.

It doesn't work like that people.
 
LAYVILLE, N.Y. &#8212; The pastor of a secretive church in central New York was holding a meeting to address concerns that a teenage congregant wanted to defect when other church members began to beat the teenager in an attack that eventually stretched over 10 hours, a prosecutor said on Thursday.
Defense lawyers for the teenagers&#8217; parents, Bruce T. Leonard, 65, and Deborah Leonard, 59, offered a sharply different account of the meeting, describing it as a family gathering to discuss the teenagers&#8217; behavior toward relatives and church members. A lawyer for Ms. Leonard, Devin Garramone, said, &#8220;It had something to do with the boys maybe touching some of the other children in the church.&#8221;

But the police spokesman, Lt. Timothy O&#8217;Neill of the New Hartford Police Department, said the Oneida County Child Advocacy Center had thoroughly investigated suggestions of sexual abuse by the teenagers and deemed them &#8220;completely unfounded.&#8221; The advocacy center conducted interviews and medical examinations, Lieutenant O&#8217;Neill said, adding that &#8220;there&#8217;s been no evidence whatsoever to suggest there was any molestation committed by either of these young men.&#8221;

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/n...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

The mother's lawyer is saying:
Mr. Garramone said the brothers had also been beaten with a folded-over electrical cord. He said his client, Ms. Leonard, had been helpless to stop the violence, as congregants in thrall to church leaders watched as the brothers were beaten.

I guess they beat her and tied her up to prevent her from getting up and going to the next room to call 911. :rolleyes:
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/17/n...atedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

The founder and longtime pastor at Word of Life Christian Church shamed congregants from the pulpit, dredging up old sins and recounting them at Sunday services in humiliating detail, a former member said.

He demanded they redo the floors and fix the plumbing in his living quarters, day after day for hours, until they felt numb from sleep deprivation. Members who raised questions were put on church discipline and forbidden to speak to others.

And the founder, Jerry Irwin, taught hate, using racial slurs during sermons, according to the former member, Chadwick Handville.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/n...lumn-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

The mother's lawyer is saying:


I guess they beat her and tied her up to prevent her from getting up and going to the next room to call 911. :rolleyes:

Emotional/psychological prisons can be far more confining that bars and chains. Pretty clearly her attorney is attempting to portray her as just a victim. However, that could in fact be the case. Hallmarks of cultish behavior include extreme isolation, distrust of any and all outsiders, following without question the dictates of a charismatic/controllinig leader. People's heads get re-arranged and they make decisions based on the internal logic of the cult.

I'm not ready to give mom a pass at this point. But, I am willing to hear her story.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/17/n...RelatedCoverage®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article

The founder and longtime pastor at Word of Life Christian Church shamed congregants from the pulpit, dredging up old sins and recounting them at Sunday services in humiliating detail, a former member said.

He demanded they redo the floors and fix the plumbing in his living quarters, day after day for hours, until they felt numb from sleep deprivation. Members who raised questions were put on church discipline and forbidden to speak to others.

And the founder, Jerry Irwin, taught hate, using racial slurs during sermons, according to the former member, Chadwick Handville.

More from the article:

&#8220;You were kind of being shamed or shunned, what Jerry would call out of a rebellious state,&#8221; Mr. Handville said. &#8220;He used that technique often.&#8221;

The same terminology used by the Stanley parents in referring to their teen-agers.
 
Police: Teen in N.Y. church assault wanted out

The fatal beating of Lucas Leonard in the sanctuary of Word of Life Christian Church came after the teenager had "expressed a desire to leave" the secretive upstate New York church, New Hartford Police Chief Michael Inserra said Friday.

That wish, according to Inserra, apparently prompted a counseling session on the spiritual state of Lucas and his younger brother. During the sessions, the teens were beaten with a cord and Lucas suffered injuries so severe that emergency room doctors thought he had been shot, Inserra said.

http://www.kwch.com/news/national/police-teen-in-ny-church-assault-wanted-out/35880784
 
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/victim-deadly-church-beating-wanted-leave-congregation-police-n446251
Church deacon Daniel Irwin testified that he peered through a doorway window in the sanctuary at one point during the more than 12-hour ordeal at the Word of Life Christian Church, and saw Lucas Leonard bleeding and in apparent agony.

Sooo... why didn't Mr. Irwin call 9-1-1 ??

Am just so sickened by this . One wonders exactly how many other Christian churches practice corporal punishment ?
Although many CPS workers already have packed schedules, maybe other churches need to be looked at much closer; and if so --what would the children say about how they are being treated ?
Surely this abuse didn't happen overnight , and beatings were common ?

If any adults or teens witness abuse, they need to report it. And ,imo, it doesn't matter if the spanking/beating takes place in a church or wherever !

:moo:
 
Emotional/psychological prisons can be far more confining that bars and chains. Pretty clearly her attorney is attempting to portray her as just a victim. However, that could in fact be the case. Hallmarks of cultish behavior include extreme isolation, distrust of any and all outsiders, following without question the dictates of a charismatic/controllinig leader. People's heads get re-arranged and they make decisions based on the internal logic of the cult.

I'm not ready to give mom a pass at this point. But, I am willing to hear her story.


I don't care if you're a cult victim or what, if you watch and do nothing while people beat your child to death you're guilty of being a horrible human being.

Being in a toxic religion does not give you a licence to kill.

Anyway, she admitted taking part of the beating.
Later, the sergeant said, Deborah Leonard said she had struck Lucas with a cord. When Grant removed a cord from the back of a computer and asked her to demonstrate how she hit him, the investigator said, Deborah Leonard struck a table violently.
http://www.kwch.com/news/national/police-teen-in-ny-church-assault-wanted-out/35880784

The father's attorney is a tool:

Don Gerace, attorney for Bruce Leonard, has entered a not-guilty plea on behalf of his client, whom he said has no criminal history and has lived in the community more than two decades. Leonard has been a church member for eight years.

"In the state of New York he is charged with manslaughter in the first degree, which requires intent to cause serious bodily injury and I do not believe there was any intent," Gerace said this week.

You simply do not beat people to death if you don't intend to injure them.
 

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