NEW YORK
Rolling Stone
BY ELISABETH GARBER-PAUL July 6, 2016
Defendant Sarah Ferguson was found not guilty of second-degree murder yesterday, bringing an end to a week-long bench trial in upstate New York for the October 2015 beating death of her half-brother, Lucas Leonard. Judge Michael Dwyer did find her guilty, however, of first-degree manslaughter, two counts of first-degree assault and two counts of gang assault – felonies that each carry up to 25 years in prison. Her sentencing is set for September 1st.
Ferguson was just one of eight people indicted in the death of Lucas Leonard, 19, and the severe beating of his younger brother, Christopher, now 18 – a group of alleged assailants that also included the boys’ parents and the pastor of the church. (Both parents took plea deals, while pastor Tiffanie Irwin is still facing a trial.) The case gained national prominence last fall not only because of the shocking brutality, but because it took place at the secretive Word of Life Christian Church, a small organization that former members have described as a “cult.” Just days after the crime, investigators alleged that the two young men had “expressed a desire to leave” the church, which led to their beating.
This month, in the trial’s opening arguments, prosecutors said that the boys were held after Sunday services for a “counseling session” in which they were accused of everything from witchcraft and voodoo to plotting their parents’ murder and molesting their younger siblings. When they refused to repent for their sins, prosecutors said, they were punched in the face and whipped with a doubled-up electrical cord. Lucas died from his injuries – including a cut to the shaft of his penis that bled so severely it soaked his pants and his shoe – while Christopher suffered serious internal trauma and renal failure that, according to medical testimony, if left untreated could have been fatal as well.
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