Man convicted of raping, torturing disabled sister

BUFFALO, N.Y. – A jury in Buffalo has convicted a New York man of raping and scalding his mentally disabled half-sister before their mother suffocated her last year.

The Erie County jury deliberated about 4 hours Wednesday before finding 32-year-old Luke Wright guilty on all 10 criminal counts.

During a weeklong trial, jurors heard how Wright repeatedly tortured 23-year-old Laura Cummings in their North Collins home, outside Buffalo. Prosecutors say he kept his half-sister tied to a chair, scalded her face and buttocks and raped and sodomized her.

Wright's lawyer argued that he's mentally retarded and brain-damaged and confessed to crimes he didn't commit without understanding his legal situation.

Eva Cummings, the mother of Wright and the victim, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for killing her daughter and is in prison.