Teen testifies against sister in fatal N.Y. church beating

NEW HARTFORD, N.Y. -- A judge has ruled that prosecutors presented enough evidence to warrant grand jury action against the half-sister of two brothers beaten, one fatally, at a central New York church.

New Hartford Town Justice William Virkler ruled after hearing testimony from 17-year-old Christopher Leonard Wednesday about the attack this month that left him injured and his 19-year-old brother Lucas dead.

Their half-sister, Sarah Ferguson, is charged with assault and will continue to be held on $50,000 bail.

The Leonards' parents, Bruce and Deborah Leonard, have been charged with manslaughter. Three other congregants of the Word of Life Church are also charged with assault. All have pleaded not guilty.

The small courtroom had been rearranged so that Christopher Leonard would be a bit farther away from his sister while he testified.

Christopher steadfastly avoided looking at her as he walked into court to testify against her and she didn't look up from the defense table.

Then, Christopher testified that Ferguson joined his parents and three other congregants in punching and whipping him with an electrical cord because he and his brother "didn't want to answer" questions during a meeting. He was not asked the nature of the questions.

He said he was eventually taken to another room and left sitting in a corner with earplugs and earmuffs, so he couldn't hear conversation around him, before being brought back into the church. In the church sanctuary, he said he saw his 19-year-old brother, Lucas, lying on the ground not breathing.

Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara said he "can't imagine the stress" the teen was under when he took the stand.

The uncle of the two boys, Jimmy Stewart, also testified Wednesday. Stewart said he and his wife attended Word of Life Christian Church in the 1990s but never joined because they felt "something wasn't right."

The church's pastors then forbade the Leonard children from associating with his family because they weren't church members, he said.