Parents give diverging accounts of sons’ beatings in church

Police knock on the door of the Word of Life church while serving paperwork on a church member, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015, in New Hartford, NY. Bruce and Deborah Leonard have been charged in the beating death of their son, Lucas, and the severe beating of his 17-year-old brother, Christopher, inside the church on Sunday. Four other adults were charged with assault in the younger brother’s beating, including Sarah Ferguson, 33, the victims’ sister. AP

NEW HARTFORD, New York — Parents charged with beating their teenage son to death inside a church are giving diverging versions of what happened, though lawyers for both said Thursday the couple hadn’t intended the brutality that unfolded.

An attorney for the mother, Deborah Leonard, said she felt helpless to stop an “intervention” that spiraled into severe punishment by others at Word of Life church. But a lawyer for the father, Bruce Leonard, said the incident stemmed from a family meeting that had nothing to do with the church.

Police have said a spiritual counseling session devolved into violence Sunday night at the Word of Life Christian Church, as members tried to get Lucas Leonard, 19, and his 17-year-old brother, Christopher, to confess sins and seek forgiveness. After hours of being pounded with fists and kicked, the elder teen died and his brother was hospitalized with serious injuries.

READ: Parents charged with fatally beating son in New York church | Police: Brothers were beaten in New York church to make them confess

“We want to understand why this happened, how this session got so out of control that it cost the life of a young man,” New Hartford police Chief Michael Inserra said in an interview Thursday. Police say they aren’t certain why the teens were being punished.

Deborah Leonard “went along with” others in a church where she had worshipped for years, not anticipating how harsh the intervention would become, said her lawyer, Devin Garramone.

“This woman is so meek and timid, she didn’t have the temerity to stand up to them and say, ‘You’re not punishing my kid. You’re not doing this,'” said Garramone, adding that he believed she didn’t cause the fatal injuries.

Bruce Leonard’s lawyer, Donald Gerace, said the episode “could just as well have taken place outside the church.” He said the Leonards had no intention of seriously injuring their son.

The parents and four others arrested in the beatings — including the victims’ 33-year-old sister, Sarah Ferguson — are due in court Friday. The parents have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, and the others have pleaded not guilty to assault. Lawyers for the other defendants haven’t commented.

Inserra said Thursday he wasn’t sure whether anyone else would be charged.

As the parents’ accounts of the beating began to emerge, so did contrasting views of the family and the secluded, small-town congregation.

Housed in a former school building in a rural part of central New York, the roughly 30-year-old Word of Life church had perhaps 40 or more members at its peak but now counts closer to 20, Inserra said. Some live at the church.

To some local residents, it was a strangely secretive place: a church where the doors weren’t open, dogs barked, people were rarely seen coming and going.

After the beatings, the victims’ relatives wouldn’t tell officers where to find the injured Christopher, Inserra said. Police ultimately located the teen on the church’s second floor.

“The membership of this church, they’re devoted to the church” and to spiritual leader Traci Irwin and pastor Tiffanie Irwin, Inserra said. “And they, a lot of times, wait to be told what to do.”

The Irwins — Traci is Tiffanie’s mother — haven’t been charged and haven’t commented. Prosecutors subpoenaed Tiffanie’s brother, Daniel Irwin, to testify at a court hearing Friday.