Teen dies after being beat in church

Teenager Dies in Fatal Church Beating from ABC News

Six New Yorkers including Lucas Leonard’s sister have been charged in the beating death of one young teenage boy and his brother who survived the assault. The boys’ parents, Bruce T. Leonard, 65, and Deborah R. Leonard, 59, each face one count of first-degree manslaughter while Joseph Irwin, David Morey, Linda Morey and Sarah Ferguson face similar charges. Lucas was pronounced dead upon arrival at a hospital in Utica, New York, his brother, Christopher, is in critical condition. During a three-hour-long torture session, the two boys were coerced into confessing their “sins” and asking for “forgiveness.” Word of Life Church, a congregation that, according to one former member, had closed itself off from the surrounding community, denied allegations that they are a cult. Lynn Laventure, of New Hartford, said: “It makes me wonder what is going on if this is a church and it’s of God,” she said. “There is such thing as a child having to have a punishment if something was wrong … but not a beating. We would have never in a million years guessed anything was … wrong.”

[CNN: 6 N.Y. church members arrested after teen dies in assault]