Pastor Tiffanie Irwin called for a counselling session at the Word of Life Christian Church in New Hartford, NY and at that session, two brothers were beaten with an electric cord resulting in the death of one. Investigators say the brothers had discussed leaving the congregation which may have prompted the attack.
Irwin, her brother Joseph and church members Linda Morey and David Morey were among nine charged and convicted in the attack. Tiffanie Irwin pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Joseph Irwin and the Moreys each pleaded guilty to assault. Three other church members admitted to lesser charges in the beatings that killed Lucas Leonard, 19, and injured Christopher Leonard, 17, this past October.
Members of the secretive church took the body of Lucas Leonard to a hospital, where doctors thought he had been shot. Authorities found the badly injured brother still inside a converted New Hartford school building that housed the church’s leaders.
Christopher Leonard testified that Tiffanie Irwin asked his family and some others to stay behind for a meeting after a lengthy Sunday service last October. During the next 14 hours, he said he and his brother were struck repeatedly on their torsos and genitals with an electric cord.
The brothers were ordered to repent for a variety of sins during the beating, including using a voodoo doll.
The victims’ parents pleaded guilty to assault. The church’s matriarch, Traci Irwin, and her deacon son Daniel, admitted to counts of unlawful imprisonment.
Sentencing is scheduled for December and January.
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