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AP
Police walk outside the Word of Life church on Thursday
NEW HARTFORD, N.Y. >> A mother charged with killing her teenage son in a church says through her lawyer she felt helpless to stop an “intervention” that spiraled into a severe beating. An attorney for the son’s father says what happened stemmed from a family matter and the parents didn’t intend their son’s grave injuries.
Now prosecutors are to discuss what they think happened Sunday.
The parents and four others charged in the beatings are due in a New York court Friday. Prosecutors must reveal enough of their case to try to persuade a judge to hold the defendants for a grand jury to decide whether to indict them.
They’ve pleaded not guilty.
Police say spiritual counseling devolved into violence, killing 19-year-old Lucas Leonard. His 17-year-old brother, Christopher, was seriously injured.
