He says prosecutors are researching whether a murder charge could apply in the case. Bruce Leonard appeared stoic and wrote on a notepad as witnesses spoke to the court.
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New details are emerging about what lead up to the gruesome death of Lucas Leonard, 19.
A church members even testified he saw Lucas moaning while rolling on the floor & blood on the carpet where he was in pain.
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.
Nine months after Mathew Ajibade died alone in a jail cell while strapped to a chair, two sheriff’s deputies have been acquitted of involuntary manslaughter in his death but still face prison sentences for… Christopher also was struck in the back.
They both deny the charges.
Irwin said he dashed into the church to find Lucas lying motionless on the floor, and Lucas’s father and brother and Irwin’s mother, church spiritual leader Traci Irwin, trying to resuscitate him. Deborah Leonard’s lawyer said the mother felt helpless to stop an “intervention” she didn’t expect to become so harsh.
The couple drove Lucas to a hospital where he died on Monday, claiming he was shot.
Irwin also said that he saw Pastor Traci Irwin, his sister, performing CPR while Bruce & Christopher Leonard tried reviving him using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Christopher was hospitalized in a life threatening condition, but his health was improving.
Daniel Irwin said he overheard someone say, “Lucas is dead”. As has Daniel Irwin’s brother, Joseph Irwin. Ferguson is the victims’ sister.
Christopher Leonard is being treated at a local hospital for blunt force trauma to the body and extremities, police say. Both are charged with first-degree manslaughter, and more charges are expected.
Ferguson and Joseph Irwin are scheduled for their own felony hearing on October 23.
Several children were removed from the church and turned over to Oneida County Child Protective Services.
Bail for the other four church members was set Wednesday at $50,000 each. All have pleaded not guilty. They are due back in court in court December. 15.
“The most genuine and caring people I have ever known”, Whitney Gilmore captioned an Instagram photo of his mother and stepfather, Deborah and Bruce Leonard, beaming at the camera during a wedding anniversary outing.
Sarah L. Ferguson, 33, of 2347 Main St., Clayville, was charged with second-degree assault.
An all night spiritual season went so wrong when a parent whipped their teen son with an electrical cord and a belt during a deadly religious session.
Four other people, including the teens’ parents, are still being held and due in court Friday for a hearing.
The fatal beating of a teenager at his church erupted during a counseling session over his desire to leave the congregation, members of the insular group told police.
Friday’s revelation that Lucas had wanted to leave the church offered a possible explanation for why the “counseling session” was initiated, New Hartford police chief Michael Inserra said, but many questions remained unanswered.
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Bruce Leonard’s attorney, Don Gerace, told The Post this week that his client was born and raised in upstate New York. They have a court date Friday afternoon.
