The parents of teens Lucas (19) and Christopher Leonard (17) have been charged with first degree man slaughter. On October 16 the brothers attended what they hoped to be their last service at the Word of Life Christian Church. They had decided to leave the church and at this service their parents in attempt to "change their minds about leaving" got a black cord of about four feet of length, folded it in half and beat the two teens. Lucas collapsed during the beating and later that night his mom tried to give him CPR and failed to revive him. After the "service," the parents took Lucas to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead. His brother, Christopher, was later found hiding in the church and had to be coaxed out by law enforcement. He is now in questioning.
Analysis:
I think that the court was right in declaring man slaughter. Any parents that would beat and kill their children for not having the same beliefs as them, deserves that. This story relates back to history through the puritans and how strict they were in their beliefs. I'm not defending the parents but I don't think that they meant to go as far as to kill one of their children. I'm curious as to what the other members of the church were doing during the time of the beating. Why didn't they stand up for the teens and try to stop the parents?
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/16/us/new-york-church-assault-case/index.html
That's so true what were the itnesses doing. That's so sad that people would do that to their own children. This is so tragic
ReplyDeleteHow long were they sentenced? Far too many people get shorter sentences because they say they did it for their religion.
ReplyDeleteI have that same question as Kate Fehan. This is so sad. Why would people do that to their own children? - Kayleigh Smerud
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that people that kill for Christianity might get a shorter sentence than Muslim killings, or even black killings? Whilst all of these crimes deserve strict punishments, it seems strange that these white, Christian people will most likely get a shorter sentence than brown, black, Muslim, murderers (but none of them deserve any less punishment regardless)?
ReplyDeleteIt seems like in this day and age you can claim something was done due to religion, and because of our Constitution states freedom of religion the culprit in question will be either given no sentence or significantly shorter sentence.
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