They sat with their heads bowed, neither looking at the witnesses or each other, as Mr Irwin and a series of police officers provided details about the session at the church, the death of teenager and the subsequent questioning of the couple.
Advertisement
Mr Irwin is another the brother of the church’s pastor, Tiffany Irwin.
Christopher remains in serious condition at a local hospital. He remained hospitalized Friday and was cooperating with the authorities.
Inserra said police had been called to the church on a handful of occasions after church member complaints about noise and disorderly conduct.
Four other people, including the teens’ parents, are still being held and due in court Friday for a hearing.
Irwin described brutal beatings during the counseling session by Lucas’ father Bruce Leonard.
Five witnesses testified on Friday in the felony hearing for Chadwicks manslaughter defendants Bruce and Deborah Leonard. Both have been charged with first-degree manslaughter; neither looked at Irwin during his testimony. Four fellow members, including the teens’ sister, Sarah Ferguson, 33, were charged with second-degree assault. He told the court the so-called “counseling session last hours”.
Police said Friday that the parishioners accused of beating their teenage son to death at a secretive church here justified the attack by saying he had molested children, but that an investigation had not turned up any evidence to support those claims.
Inserra said it was not clear why his parents made a decision to beat Christopher, too.
“He didn’t seem overly injured”, Irwin said. He was on the floor on the main sanctuary, a former gymnasium at the rear of the church building, but “alert enough to answer questions”.
“Lucas was rolling himself back and forth on the floor and making a sustained monotone moaning”, recalled Irwin, who said he didn’t stay for long.
Bruce Leonard, Deborah Leonard, Sarah Ferguson (top L-R) and Joseph Irwin, Linda Morey, and David Morey (bottom L-R) have been arrested in connection with the beatings of 19-year-old Lucas Leonard and his 17-year-old brother Christopher.
But they stopped after about 10 minutes.
A few of the men were “hysterical”, Irwin said, so “I grabbed Luke myself and I carried him outside”.
Family members took Lucas, 19, by vehicle Monday afternoon to a hospital in Utica, where he was pronounced dead.
Bruce kept his head bowed and his eyes shut the entire time while Deborah Leonard was weeping off and on as a church member, a new Hartford crime scene technician and three state police investigators took the stand. The hitting was “very hard and violent”, he testified Friday.
“Everybody was taking turns either striking or hitting or holding them down”, Nellis testified about his interview with Deborah Leonard. He said Thursday he doesn’t believe she caused the fatal injuries.
But the police have consistently rejected that suggestion. “The bruising, the contusions on their body is something I hope I never have to see again”, said Chief Michael Serra with New Hartford Police.
Advertisement
The roughly 30-year-old Word of Life church once had perhaps 40 or more members but now counts closer to 20, authorities said. The rumors were often outlandish and false, the ex-congregants said, but that did not keep them from splitting families apart and spreading fear of the longtime pastor, Jerry Irwin, the family patriarch.
