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NY Woman Sentenced To 25 Years In Prison For Church Killing

wikipedia

A woman has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for joining fellow members of a central New York church in a 14-hour round of beatings that killed one of her half brothers and wounded another.

Sarah Ferguson was convicted in July of manslaughter and assault but the judge cleared her of murder in the death of 19-year-old Lucas Leonard at the Word of Life Christian Church last October.

She wept and apologized at sentencing Thursday.

Ferguson is one of nine relatives and church members accused of attacking Leonard and 17-year-old Christopher Leonard after the brothers talked about leaving the secretive church.

The victims' parents pleaded guilty to assault and agreed to testify against the 34-year-old Ferguson and the others, who are scheduled for trial in October on charges that include murder and gang assault.

© 2016 AP

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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