Pastor Tiffanie Irwin called for a counselling session at the\u00a0Word of Life Christian Church in New Hartford, NY and at that session, two brothers were beaten\u00a0with an electric cord resulting in the death of one. \u00a0Investigators say the brothers had discussed leaving the congregation which may have prompted the attack.<\/p>\n
Irwin, her brother Joseph and church members Linda Morey and David Morey were among\u00a0nine charged and\u00a0convicted in the attack. \u00a0Tiffanie\u00a0Irwin pleaded guilty to manslaughter. \u00a0Joseph Irwin and the Moreys each pleaded guilty to assault. \u00a0Three other church members admitted to lesser charges in the beatings that killed Lucas Leonard, 19, and injured Christopher Leonard, 17, this past\u00a0October.<\/p>\n
Members of the secretive church took the body of Lucas Leonard to a hospital, where doctors thought he had been shot. \u00a0Authorities found the\u00a0badly injured brother still inside a converted New Hartford school building that housed the church’s leaders.<\/p>\n
Christopher Leonard testified that Tiffanie Irwin asked his family and some others to stay behind for a meeting after a lengthy\u00a0Sunday service last October. \u00a0During\u00a0the next 14 hours, he said he and his brother were struck repeatedly\u00a0on their torsos and genitals with an electric cord.<\/p>\n
The brothers were ordered \u00a0to repent for a variety of sins\u00a0during the beating, including using a voodoo doll.<\/p>\n
The victims\u2019 parents pleaded guilty to assault. \u00a0The church\u2019s matriarch, Traci Irwin, and her deacon son Daniel, admitted to counts of unlawful imprisonment.<\/p>\n
Sentencing is\u00a0scheduled for December and January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"