NEW YORK
Syracuse.com
By Elizabeth Doran | edoran@syracuse.com
Eight months ago, two teen-agers were beaten and whipped by their own parents and sister with an electrical cord in a brutal beating that lasted for hours inside a Utica-area church.
That beating, which ultimately killed 19-year-old Lucas Leonard and severely injured his brother, Christopher Leonard,17, took place in the Word of Life Christian Church in Chadwicks, near New Hartford.
The first trial started this week, with Sarah Ferguson, 33, the boys’ half-sister, facing murder, assault and other charges. Nine people are accused of participating in the beatings including the boys’ parents, Bruce and Deborah Leonard, who have both accepted plea deals.
Here are 11 things we discovered from the trial:
1) Demons and exorcism. Sarah Ferguson testified she performed an exorcism on her brothers’ rooms at one point. She said she believed there were “cowering demons” in her brothers’ rooms. She testified that she believes in angels and demons as a scientific thing.
2) Locks to keep brothers out. Sarah Ferguson and her sister, Grace Leonard, 16, testified to placing padlocks on the doors of their attic apartment so the brothers could not molest Grace or Ferguson’s four children. Ferguson also said she boarded up a side entrance.
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