A 19-year-old man has died after he was beaten for hours inside the 'sanctuary' room of a Church in New York.
Police say the victim, Lucas Leonard, was beaten for hours during a family counseling session inside the "sanctuary room" of a Christian church.
The victim's parents have consequetly been charged with manslaughter in the death of their son.
The parents, Bruce Leonard, 65, and Deborah Leonard, 59, were arraigned on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty. They were being held in lieu of $100,000 bail each.
In addition, four of the couple's fellow parishioners were charged with assaulting the teenager's younger brother on Sunday at the Word of Life Church in Chadwicks, New York, about 50 miles (80 km) east of Syracuse.
Michael Inserra, chief of the New Hartford Police, said at a news conference that "Both brothers were continually subjected to physical punishment over the course of several hours in the hopes that each would confess to prior sins and ask for forgiveness"
Lucas Leonard, died on Monday afternoon after being driven to a hospital by family members, who falsely told doctors the teenager had suffered a gunshot wound, police said. Leonard's injuries were consistent with blunt force trauma to his torso and extremities, police said.