Word of Life Church Trial Video: Sister Tells of Abuse, How Pastor Called out Brother

By Elizabeth Doran
Syracuse.com
June 29, 2016

http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index.ssf/2016/06/word_of_life_trial_sister_talks_about_abuse_how_pastor_called_out_brothers_video.html

[with video]

Grace Leonard, sister of two teens beaten at the Word of Life Christian Church near Utica, testified Tuesday about abuse she said she suffered at the hands of her brothers.

She also described how the church pastor, Tiffanie Irwin, called out her brother, Lucas Leonard, in church and asked him to stand up and say why he wanted to leave the church. Grace Leonard testified her brother said he wanted to leave the church so he could molest little girls and get away with it.

Grace Leonard, 16, who was testifying in the trial of her sister, Sarah Ferguson, said the beatings happened in a counseling session after Sunday church service on Oct. 11, 2015.

Sarah Ferguson is accused of taking part in the beatings that killed one of her half-brothers, 19-year-old Lucas Leonard, and severely injured another half-brother, Christopher Leonard, 17, at the church in New Hartford.

The video above includes Grace Leonard's testimony, under questioning by prosecutor Laurie Lisi, about how she says her brothers touched her inappropriately since she was abut 4 or 5 years old, why she moved into an attic and talking about the pastor calling out her brother Lucas. Her face is blurred at the order of the judge.

Nine Word of Life Christian Church defendants are charged with beating the two young young men for hours after an eight-hour church session in October 2015. Of the defendants, two - Deborah Leonard and Bruce Leonard - have accepted plea offers.

Bruce Leonard, the father of Christopher and Lucas Leonard, accepted a plea deal that calls for him to get 15 to 16 years in prison. He was scheduled to be tried with Sarah Ferguson.

The bizarre case has attracted national attention, with People magazine featuring a story on the alleged "Killer Cult" in May.

Prosecutors have said the beatings began when the church pastor challenged the teens' for using witchcraft, plotting their parents' murder and allegedly sexually abusing their siblings and nieces.