All right, come to order. 14th Circuit Court County Muskegon is now in session and I will Matthew our case is presiding and you may be seated before the court is filed 22 3537 FC. It's people of the state of Michigan versus Paul Ferguson. Are you Paul Ferguson, sir? Yes. Yes. Yes. All right, Mr Ferguson here for the court with his attorney, Mr Joshua Brady. The people are Ma Roberts time schedule for a sentencing. In this case had the people have a chance to read the pre sent report. We have your honor. We have no directions to that. Although I know of a letter this morning as we all are, is that any objection to I, I did receive a letter from, uh, Nolan Ferguson who was here in present for Sea Van and I did see that this morning and I have a chance to read that before I came up. I have a copy and I have no objection to that either. Ok. Uh Also the court is in receipt of two assessments, psychological assessments. Uh, one is from a Thomas D chaser psychiatrist, forensic psychologist, uh, for Ann Arbor 25 pages in LENG that was submitted by defense counsel at the urging I will say of the court uh asking for that. So I appreciate that Mr Alvin Brady, I also received a report from a Sami Farhan, a phd licensed psychologist. This is a seven page report. It's a psychological assessment as well is also provided by defense counsel. Court has reviewed those in anticipation of sentencing, Mr Robert that you receive those. And Mr Brady in any objection of the court reviewing those considering those sentencing, Mr Roberts, Mr Brady, no objection, but I would ask those be considered as nonpublic. The court is going to have them scan into the court file, but they are going to be nonpublic. They do contain a large amount of what I would consider very personal medical information that I don't think is appropriate to be in the public domain. The court is going to reference certain conclusions from these reports. Uh but those do not reveal a specific uh medical information, I think it's appropriate. So the court will, will make this part of the record because it's going to be consider those in sentencing. But again, it's going to be nonpublic. So, all right, um Any additions or corrections you have in the pre sentence report, Mister Roberts. Beyond that. Ok, Mr Alvin Brady, have you had an opportunity to review the preset support the attached? Yes, I have no additions or corrections. I would also note that. We're on the topic of letters. I submitted a letter from Stephen and Martha Vander Ark. Those are Mr Ferguson's. I believe those would be step grandparents. Um, the current placement of his younger half brother G they had intended to be here in support this morning but were ill this weekend. Ok. Yeah, I have also considered that too. Did you receive a copy of that as well? Mr? Ok. I've read that too. Uh I've gotten AAA large number of letters from people that would say unrelated to this case specifically. Um just individuals who saw it on Court TV. And, and um expressing an opinion, I, I am not considering those in sentencing because one, they're not directly connected to the case. Uh I, and I do appreciate the comments from individuals. Uh but I, I think it's important we limit to the record to that people actually have something to do with this case or connected with the victim. So, unless there's an objection to that, I, I've read them but I'm not using it as a consideration. So any objection to that, I would note not having seen copies of those. I can't comment on the specific letter but no issue with that. I mean, there was, there's just random people who saw it on TV and I just don't think it's appropriate for the court to, to take that into consideration for sentencing purposes. I don't think that's fair to Mr F. So additions or corrections? No additions are correct. All right. And Mr Ferguson, have you received a copy of the pre sentence report, the guidelines? Yes. Your honor. Any additions or corrections, you know your honor and you have, have you have the opportunity to discuss the contents of that report with your attorney? Yes, your honor, Mr Roberts. Do we have any victim representative who wishes to make a statement today? Ok. Any comments regarding sentencing? Thank you. As I've said to the court before. Uh this is as it relates to Paul, this is one of the most difficult cases I think I've ever had to deal with. Um not just from the standpoint of how difficult the subject matter was here, the tragic that Timothy and the circumstances surrounding it, but just with Paul himself and, and I'm not saying anything today really hold uh Paul in multiple meetings that we've had in the trial and this cooper operation here that there that I view him as um favorable and that he was willing to help us and to testify against his mother, which I'm sure was very difficult for him to do under the circumstances. Uh But that I was also angry, just frankly angry and shocked and appalled that his treatment of Timothy because he was for all intents and purposes, the, the enforcer arm of this two person. Uh the two people most directly responsible for Timothy's death, that he was the one that would deal out most of the punishments that were directed by his brand of art. And certainly, um, she's received the, the appropriate sentence for her role in this as well. So I had mixed emotions about Paul, um even up to and including the time that he testified in his trial. And those frankly continued, one of the things that, that we discussed at the time of the plea was giving Mr Alvin Brady an opportunity to get the evaluations which in an effort to hopefully demonstrate in some regard why Paul did these things? Uh was it, was it a psychological condition? Was there some manipulation taking place? Um And quite frankly, I think just as my feeling is, is there's good and bad with Paul, I think both of these assessments reflect the same thing. Um What is absolutely clear from both of these assessments is that whatever upbringing Paul had um from his, from his mother and frankly, from his father as well, led to him being how he is to that. And that that was a childhood that I think both reports indicate was marked with abuse and neglect, uh very traumatic upbringing, uh moved around a lot and, and what also rings through in this these assessments is that nobody did anything to get Paul any help uh when, when it could have made a difference. So, so that is, that is in some respects, that's the good part of this because it does seem to at least explain in some regard why Paul behaved the way that he did. Uh But there's bad in here as well. Um And I'm sure the court will note this but the, the, the one sentence that struck me and Doctor Chaser's report uh is that it says, in my opinion, Paul F, Ferguson was predisposed to abuse his brother, independent of his mother's presence and active influence in his life. Um That's frankly scary. Uh And there is other scary parts of this as well that, that indicate that Paul was at least in some respect, predisposed to being essentially a bully. Um And, and that's that, that's how you could view his behavior is that, that he was a bully. Now, nobody I think would expect any bully to take it to the extreme of actually killing a person. Uh Although certainly it does happen, but, but nobody would expect that that was an intentional outcome that Paul saw it here. Um And we can't lose sight of the fact that Paul didn't become this way in a vacuum that, that his upbringing in some respects led to him being predisposed as this report indicates. And I think the other report references as well that he was predisposed already doing some of these things. Um Frankly, I think that M Vander Art took advantage of that and used Paul because she saw an opportunity to have Paul to do the, the horrible things that she couldn't do herself or wouldn't do herself but be done at her direction. Uh, and Paul was unfortunately willing to go along with those things because of, again, because of everything that had happened to him because of his traumatic upbringing and because of the conditions that he did have, uh, that, that led to that. So the, it, it's hard to balance these things out. Um, but certainly we did not have this report at the time that Paul pled. Um and I, I don't know that in looking at this report, that the decision that was made in this case would be any different. Um But certainly there are things here that would have been nice to have been able to consider, but we didn't have the benefit of that. And as, as I told the court, I think I've told the court on several occasions and speaking to the jury, they were uh in, in M Vander A's case very much um impressed by it might not be the right word, but, but certainly factored in Paul's testimony a great deal. I believe that he was telling the truth. He was honest about what his role in this and M Vander. Art's role in this. So I think his testimony was instrumental in, in achieving the conviction that was, that was uh achieved here against MS Vander. So I certainly all call that consideration and, but beyond that, II, I certainly don't envy the position the court is in today. Um In balancing everything that has taken place here, the good and the bad uh even in this report and the good and the bad with Paul, I, I will stick to the agreement that we have made here. I will ask the court to sentence within the sentencing guidelines in this case. Certainly, the court has, the court is obviously free to exceed the guidelines if it feels there's a basis to do so. And quite frankly, there are reasons to exceed the guidelines in some respects. There's reasons to go below the guidelines as well. So literally, I think any number that the court chooses to pick here, I think would be the appropriate sentence because I think it's, it's a difficult balancing act that the court has to do here. Um But my commitment was and continues to be that we would ask the court to sentence within the sentencing guidelines. I would ask the court however, to impose a, a maximum number here, that is essentially equivalent to what Paul's life expectancy would be. And the reason for that is that if some of the bad that's indicated in the reports is actually present and and Paul does not receive treatment for that. And, and those conditions that that are noted here, most notably, the potential antisocial disorder, the essentially a sociopath, if those things are borne out in, in in the prison system, that the prison system then has the opportunity to keep all locked up as, as long as possible. Uh I, I hope that he can get some treatment inside there, but the bad in here has got to be addressed. And if it's not, then certainly Paul does represent a threat to the public moving forward because of his disassociation, essentially from feeling empathy or feeling bad about the things that he had done in the moment. It did not appear that Paul felt bad about those things. There certainly was a moment where he, he thought he needed to let his mother know that Timothy was very thin and that they should start feeding him. But overall, what comes through in these reports is that for the most part, those were absent and the text messages, I think even bear that out as well. But even after that, noting of, of the fact that Timothy was very thin and that they needed to start feeding him, Paul was still a willing participant in the, in the truly tragic and horrible things that happened in the last days of Timothy's life, including the prolonged ice bath that Paul watched over. Um So, so certainly that that bad needs to be addressed as well. Um So again, II I don't envy the position the court is in today. I will stick with my commitment here and ask the court to sentence within the sentencing guidelines. But quite frankly, any number that the court picks here, I think would be an appropriate sentence uh for Mr Ferguson. Um I'm pleased that we've been able to see to achieve whatever justice we could for Timothy here in both of these convictions and, and certainly the two people most directly responsible for what happened to Timothy are, are going to in all likelihood, be incarcerated for an extended period of time. Certainly Miss Van, a case for the rest of her life, which is completely justified under these circumstances. So I would ask the court to as it, as it will have to do to weigh the good and the bad here in these reports. Uh And, and I trust the courts, uh I trust whatever decision the court makes it all right. Thank you, Mr Roberts. Uh Mr Brady, your honor. I'd like to start by responding to a point that Mr Robert made before I go into um the multiple points I plan to address. I, I understand the prosecutor's characterization of Paul as being the enforcer as being the primary one. But I believe part of that is based simply on the evidence that we have. This court's heard the text messages, extensive text messages of Miss Van Der are constructing Paul on what he was to do to Timothy. They've heard Paul's, you've heard Paul's testimony about what he was instructed to do and what he did the rest of the time when she was there doing whatever she did. Paul was at work. She didn't have to send text messages to herself. Timothy is not here to talk about what happened when it was just him and his mother. So I, I disagree with that characterization. I, I believe based on what we do know of Miss Van Der Ark that there was far, far more that went on. There was far, far more that she did that there simply is no evidence of no one to speak of because the only person alive who knows what she did is hurt beyond that, reading the pre sentence report. In this case, I can't argue with the reasonableness of the recommendations in the pre sentence report. I also really can't add anything about the offense about the details of what happened to Timothy. You presided over the same trial that I watched. I know in emotions, other paperwork submitted to the court, you're aware of far, far more than what came out publicly, what was submitted to the jury. But I'd ask the court to consider, I, I think there's five fronts on which Paul should be evaluated very differently than where his mother is. And the first is just capacity to understand. We heard MS Van Der Ark's attorney argue they didn't know what they were doing. They didn't realize that it could kill him or cause that level of injury. And I don't have to come to a conclusion. I don't have to say, I think that's right or that's wrong to understand that a 41 year old law school graduate who was by her own boasting at the top of her class, passed the bar with flying colors who would have been an attorney? Well, academically was qualified to be an attorney. We never got an answer why she wasn't and who worked for the court, both from a legal front, from a moral front, from intellectual front had far, far more capacity to understand what she was doing and the potential consequences of what she was doing. Then her son who was a 20 year old high school graduate who worked as a dishwasher. There's simply no comparison in capacity and life experience in an ability to understand and recognize what was happening. Second. Well, we recognize for purposes of the child abuse statute, for purposes of Paul's plea, the law may not distinguish between a parent and another person over the age of 18 who's placed in charge of a child. We all know a mother has a very different role than a sibling. We all know that there's a certain level of rivalry, a certain level of competition that we expect between siblings, which is very different than the care that we expect from parents. Third, I'll come back to the text messages. It was very clear, Paul was the follower and his mother was the leader in this case listening to over an hour of text messages read during her trial, there's pieces missing. We don't get the whole story because she talked to him on camera, she talked to him on the phone, she talked to him in person. But what is very clear from those text messages is there is not a single time that Paul gives an instruction. Every single time an instruction is given, you need to do this. It is given by her fourth and Mr Roberts has addressed this regarding Paul's co-operation. Once the gravity of what happened sank in, I believe from the reports. That was a day or so after Paul is shown remorse, he's shown confusion over how he could have done this and recognition that it was wrong. He's testified honestly, he's fully cooperated in many areas in ways that were not of clear benefit to him. His mother did none of these things. She took the stand and lied, redirected. It's not my fault. I didn't do anything wrong. And fifth and I think very important in looking at the evaluation of Mr Ferguson. It's very clear that he and his other siblings were also victims of their mother CPS involvement. Going back to when they were in elementary school back when Timothy was 18 months old, a third grade teacher who said Paul and Nolan are secretive about what happens at home. They're not supposed to talk about it. So when Mr Johnson argued in cross examination to Paul, why didn't you report it to somebody? A lifetime of being told you're not supposed to talk about what goes on at home, a lifetime of being isolated, separated from peers, having no meaningful social contacts outside his household. That all started with her. A record that when Timothy was 18 months old, when Paul was seven, that Timothy was under fed, failure to thrive. Paul didn't have anything to do with that. He was seven, but that was the pattern. That was his entire life. That was his entire framework. That was what she taught him from the beginning or at times failed to teach him through neglect. Mr Roberts reference. And I don't remember if it was in sentencing or in his closing argument that the difference between Timothy and Paul was that Paul was useful. Timothy wasn't at least not to their mother and I wouldn't disagree with that characterization, but I think that's important for the court to consider Timothy was treated the way he was because he wasn't useful. That's how Children in their mother's household were treated if they weren't useful. And I believe at some level, some part of Paul understood that he understood that we do these things to Timothy because he misbehaves because he doesn't follow instruction and because he's not useful and part of understanding that is also understanding that if he didn't follow instructions, if he misbehaved, if he got on her bad side, that he could once again be subject to some of the same mistreatment on the neglect front. I don't think any of them ever ceased to be subject to that mistreatment and I'll end with his mother's own words from the text messages read in Court Tupac quote. If he falls asleep for you from you not watch it, that is not going to end well for either. Thank you. Thank you. Come on, if I can just make a more brief point and, and it's not in response to anything Mr Brady said, but the court referenced that it, it's had a lot of outside people contacting the court. I certainly have had that as well. Um And one of the, one of the consistent themes there is people believing that Paul suffers or not suffers. I shouldn't, it's, it's not a suffering. The call is on the autism spectrum. Um I think it's important to note that in both of these evaluations that's not borne out. Um Certainly people may have that have that belief and, and think that that should be a factor here, but there's nothing in either one of these reports that supports that conclusion. So I just want to note that, um that is certainly something that I think the court could have considered. Uh but there's nothing in the report that would support that. And I don't think Mr Brady would disagree with that. I, I was gonna reference that in my comments as well. So your honor, I, I think the reports do bear out that some of the characteristics that those individuals are observing and coming to that conclusion are connected to that neglect and abuse. And um I believe it was Doctor Farra characterized as uh normalization of abnormal behavior. Um So, while I agree that that both analysis seem to have come to the conclusion that that diagnosis is inappropriate. Um I don't believe that those observations by the individuals mentioning that are ungrounded. It's simply that, that those uh behavioral characteristics come from a different source and therefore, do not lead to the ability to officially diagnose with that condition that does not change the fact that those characteristics are there, that those characteristics are relevant to Paul's interactions with his mother or that those characteristics are relevant to um ongoing treatment services that Paul will need moving forward. Ok, Mr Ferguson, anything was to say prior to sentencing? Um Yes, your honor. What reasons could justify my actions? I could make up 1000 and never believe one. What words could voice my regrets? I can think of millions yet. Never real. It's enough if I could do it all again and do it right. I would, I feel I will pay for my choices and yet never feel better because he's still gone. I have had time to think during my time in Muskegon County jail and I've realized many things about myself that I might never have other have considered otherwise my problems and flaws to put it simply are the place to begin correction of self. I asked the judge for nothing more than mercy and fairness to offer me compassion. So I might learn from him. I only hope to better myself in the coming days and serve my time with what little honor I have left and to make right my faults in search of a better tomorrow. First um first and foremost, as Mr Roberts referenced, court is up and the critic was in a difficult position. Uh This particular case, I think a lot of individuals saw Mr Ferguson testify and I think there was concerns about intellectual uh potential disabilities and the court was concerned with that as well. Uh There was also a concern uh whether Mr Ferguson was the was the target of manipulation on behalf of his mother. Uh And the reports that were submitted to the court really did help me a lot um trying to parts those issues out. Uh the report specifically by Doctor Shazer is very in depth, very well done and I, and I thank him for, for doing such a detailed analysis. Uh So the the first concern of the court was whether or not Mr Ferguson was suffering from some sort of intellectual disability, whether it be autism or something else. And uh there's a couple of references to that throughout his uh Mr Sha two doctors report. And um specifically the first reference that was on page two of the report's first full paragraph and it says in my opinion, he referring to Mr Ferguson was clearly either psychotic or suffering from symptoms of a mood disorder at the time of the court interview. And he was apparently functioning within at least the normal range of intellectual ability at this time. Thus, in my opinion, he does not suffer from a chronic psychotic disorder, chronic mood disorder or an intellectual disability. There is another reference more to the end of the report uh where he indicates uh thus, his is referring to Mr Ferguson. His educational history is inconsistent with him suffering from intellectual deficits. And as noted above, he was apparently functioning within at least the normal range of intellectual ability. At the time of the current interview. In my opinion, the defendant clearly does not suffer from an intellectual disability. So the court uh that was helpful in the court because as as in in some of the letters that I received as well, Mr Robins indicated that there was concern that Mr Ferguson was autistic. Uh And I think probably more toward that was easier to maybe manipulate him and that kind of thing. And certainly the court does take someone's intellectual capacity into consideration. I think it's important to understand the full situation. So the court uh and that, and, and although those are two small portions of the opinion that the court referenced, uh they're borne out by much more in detail history uh in Doctor Shay's report, uh specifically Doctor Shazer, uh he analyzed every statement that the defendant gave the police. He also watched the testimony of Mr Ferguson, uh interviewed him himself. He also looked through, uh is history, uh from the Oklahoma Department of Health and Human Services to look through his history, uh from school records from various psychological assessments that were conducted throughout his life, uh based on the report. So I think that opinion is well grounded uh in not only his interview, his review of educational records, his review of mental health records and um and everything out health West records currently from when he was uh assessed when he became in Muskeget County jail. So the court finds it to be quite persuasive in terms of whether or not Mr Ferguson is suffering from any intellectual disability. And the court concludes based on, on this report, uh well written report well grounded in, in fact, in the history of the defendant that he was not suffering from an intellectual disability currently or at the time of this offense. Uh The second thing is whether or not Mr Ferguson was somehow manipulated or coerced by his mother. Uh I think all of us would like to believe that this is a product of manipulation that this is simply somebody doing something that they were told to do that they were afraid. Uh Mr Elvin Brady mentioned it in his allocution regarding the specific text message as well. Those specific text messages occurred as well at the trial uh shortly after the trial concluded. I asked the prosecutor's office for a complete copy of every single text messages that would occur between this Vander and Mr Ferguson because I didn't know just the snippets that kind of highlights or the, you know, the, the real, you know, juicy stuff for lack of a better term. I wanted to understand completely what the conversation was between these individuals. I read every single text message, every one of them. I think there's thousands in there and I read it three times now, three times until I read it, you know, two months ago, I read it a month ago and I read it last week, Friday, the entire afternoon was spent reading through these things. And I think it's clear to me that Mr Ferguson, although he says that he was scared of his mother or there's an allegation that standpoint, I find that just the opposite to be true based on those text messages. Uh There is some mention about punishment, but I think Mr Ferguson, in my opinion, uh being submissive for lack of a better term to his mother was a result that he really had nowhere else to go. Uh He had been kicked out from his father's house for, for failing to obey his father's rules and for other things and he went to his mother's house and I don't think Mr Ferguson really had anywhere else to go. I think he was sort of uh beholden to his mother uh in terms of, well, there's gonna be consequences. Although there are some text messages, one or two of those that bear that out. Uh This strikes me in the text messages as more of a collaborative effort. In fact, there's some text messages where M Vander Ark actually tells Mr Ferguson uh that if Miss Timothy does not behave essentially, I'm going to leave him to you as in that he's gonna let the dog out and just bob off the chain. And uh Mr Ferguson also several times essentially tells his mother things that are going on that are bad. Uh And I think it's because he wants his mother to give him the permission to go ahead and engage in punishment. So in terms of, of whether or not his mother, he was somehow afraid of his mother. Uh I don't think that could be the case. Now, that was my initial feeling about it in my, in what I, what I took it as and that's why I wanted the assessment regarding whether or not he was being manipulated. And luckily we, uh we did get one from, uh uh the second one I referenced was from Doctor Farhat, which is uh specific, I think he was, he was asked to uh assess this particular question. And in the beginning of his assessment is he says that specifically, I was asked to assess whether Mr Ferguson possessed a psycho psychological disorder of traits that would render him significantly susceptible to manipulation, coercion or suggestibility. After conducting the evaluation, I could not substantiate these traits as they pertain to the commission of the offense. As such. This report will instead explain the nature of the evaluation of my overall opinion regarding Mr Ferguson's psychological functioning. Uh He also opined uh regarding his intellectual ability, he is from a diagnostic standpoint. I did not find sufficient evidence to support Mr Ferguson meeting criteria for any specific mental disorder. Why 1 may consider whether his presentation suggests the neurodevelopmental condition, eg Autism spectrum disorder, I did not find this to be an appropriate label. Instead, I attributed his overall demeanor and presentation to factors such as a lack of socialization, normalization of abnormal dynamics and experiences, poor interpersonal skills and emotional dysregulation. He also indicate later on on that page that I was initially asked to evaluate whether Mr Ferguson had a mental condition or trades that would have rendered him susceptible to coercion manipulation or su suggestibility at the time of the offense. Ultimately, I could not arrive at this conclusion based on the totality of available information available evidence noted, noted that he was capable of appreciating abuse towards his brother, that he was capable of recognizing the death tri impact it had and that he had time to disobeyed M Vander Ark and tried to provide his brother with aid and support. Furthermore, despite reporting that he was under M Vander Ark's quote, psychological hold he adamantly denied that he was coerced or manipulated into enforcing the abuse. Additionally, he recognized some degree pleasure and hid power and control over his younger brother in this sense. While I acknowledge that he reported experiencing fear and concerns of disobeying this van A I could not reliably substantiate his involvement as being a by-product of suggestibility, uh suggestibility or con coercion. So what this court is left to conclude is that Mr Ferguson, the way I look at this is that Mr Ferguson in these reports and a lot of these are throughout the report. There's, there's talk about how Mr Ferguson bullied his brother uh when he was younger. Uh that uh there's a mention his, his stepsister who I think was uh allocated on behalf of his mother or, or, or, or on behalf of Paul uh excuse me, Timothy at his uh at Miss Vandermark sentencing, he says he says the stepsister and this is before the police even really gave, told her about exactly what had happened in here says the stepsister reportedly told the police that quote, she doesn't know how involved Paul was in this situation, but he is the biggest bully she has ever met in her life and he found genuine joy in tormenting Timothy whenever possible. Just for clarification, I don't think that was Millie that. So maybe I'm wrong, ok. Perhaps I'm wrong about that. But this was someone who without even knowing the full details. Uh reported that, uh, in one of the interviews, uh, Mr Ferguson indicate that he liked getting praise by Shama and admitted he liked having control over Timothy. He reportedly admitted having power over somebody feels good. Later in the, in the interview, I asked him whether he had felt ashamed at the time when he was abusing his brother. And he said, quote, no, he had not. I asked whether he had recognized his actions more than wrong at the time. And he again said, quote, no, he had not. He then volunteered that on one occasion, quote, I sent her a photo of how thin he was and and why. And when I asked why he did this, he explained that I was worried when asked, when he was worried about Mr Ferguson. Ferguson replied that he had been concerned for his house there that he was nothing but bones. I asked the mother, he had at the moment thought that this abusive behavior was wrong. And he replied that quote, that thought never even crossed my mind, a treatment plan back from July 22nd to 2012 indicates that quote, Klein, meaning Mr Ferguson sometimes bullies his younger brother. The deceit Timothy report also uh mentions cruelty to animals stealing, abuse. His mother at the time back in 2018, told staff the clinic, he's become bossy, telling his siblings what to do for Mr Ferguson's part poly. When commenting about his being irritable. He admits that this is due to his younger siblings not listening, he gets physically aggressive towards his younger siblings. Uh Also he also tried to lock his younger brother, Ie apparently referenced and deceit in the closet because his brother wouldn't listen to him. So the the court read this and certainly looks at this as someone who is predisposed, I think was often a conclusion, predisposed to abuse his brother specifically the victim in this case in the history of doing that. Now, I have no doubt in my mind that Mr Ferguson is resolved for years and years and years of physical neglect and abuse on behalf of his mother. No doubt in my mind that's born out of this report. But the court is asked to essentially ignore the decisions or his behavior because of that. And to somehow say that we're gonna minimize the damage and what he did in this case because of that, if the court started imposing that standard, I think we will be in real trouble because every defendant that comes before this court has a horrible history. I would say that's the reason they're here. People that have supportive parents and, and things go good for him, typically don't come here. Now, that's not always the case. Believe me, there's a lot of interventions, but everybody has a history. And what I was looking at is whether or not this is a product mother or his situation. And what I can conclude is that this is not Mr Ferguson is trying to shift blame from his mother, from him to his mother to say that somehow. Well, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have done this or she's the one that did this at the trial. Well, I heard, I heard order at her order, at her order, you kept saying it over and over and over again. I said, just keep underscoring and if that had been an isolated incident, if that had been one or two of these things, if that had been a punishment that he administered, maybe the court could accept that. But we have an individual who was in a household for six months, intentionally himself engaging in torture of another person. And he doesn't, is why I'm worried about my, my mom's gonna say clearly that doesn't, it's not borne out in these reports. He had the ability to disobey his mom. In fact, he was on the stand and almost boasted that I gave him extra food. Weren't you worried about how your mom was gonna be upset? I still gave him extra food. So what that tells me is that this has been a careful manipulated, manipulated story by Mr Ferguson from the very beginning of this thing that he's gonna put the blame on his mom. I'm gonna be manipulated. I have aspergers, I have autism. I have Stockholm Syndrome. There's mention of him saying, well, maybe I have Stockholm Synd. No, this is an individual with. The truth of this is the truth of this is, is that we have two individuals, two individuals that lack empathy who lack emotion and both of them, the triggering factor in this, the triggering factor that caused this abuse was the removal of the husband of stepdad. Once he was gone, these two individuals were free to torture somebody and they didn't. That's what they did. And I think M Vander Rock did use Mr Ferguson. I think that sh she knew from his history that he was predisposed to torment Timothy. I think that she knew that he would have no problem doing that. Mr Ferguson walked through that door and was happy to be the enforcer seven and continued to torture his brother, older and older and older until he was a show person until he was that died from starvation, die from hypothermia had no, no fat on, barely any muscle on and the whole time just letting it happen, let me in the report says it appears that the stepfather's presence in the home had prevented Paul and his mother from abusing the victim. Again, it wasn't anything to do. They were just holding him back. Essentially, the overall opinion, which I think is important is in my opinion, although the defendant's participation in the abuse was in was in a part a function of his social milieu and living situation. These contextual factors were not a necessary condition for his participation. As previously noted mental health records contain information to the effect that while they were still living with their father and stepmother and reportedly had no contact with their mother. Mr Ferguson's stepmother told the psychiatrist that he had become bossy telling his sibling what to do and the defendant himself that he would become irritable due to his younger siblings not listening, he gets physically aggressive. He told his younger sibling, he also reports that he's gotten irritated with his siblings and has pushed them in retaliation to also try to lock his younger brother. But de seated in the closet because his brothers would listen to him. Consistent with this North Shore Police Department documents indicate that his Ferguson stepsister told to believe that he has the biggest bull issues that her life and he found genuine joy and tormenting teeth when they were living in the biological father's home. Notably, the defendant allegedly engaged in this abusive behavior despite there being any safety rules in place, despite his father and stepmother disapproving of this behavior to such an extent that they removed him from their home once he turned 18. Because of it. In my opinion, Paul Ferguson was predisposed to abuse his brother, independent of his mother's present and active influence in his life. Nonetheless, in my opinion, Mr Ferguson's involvement in repeated acts of abuse that amounted to physical and psychological torture over a period of months reflects a general lack of empathy for a brother and a lack of remorse concludes that in my opinion, there is no reason to believe that Mr Ferguson's conduct disorder has remitted or that his participation in the abuse of his brother was not an expression of a persistent pattern of antisocial conduct. The court is concerned that Mr Ferguson will not get the help he needs in prison. I think he's one step away from becoming a psychopath like his mother. And uh the court is concerned that he represents a danger to the public uh that if released, he would, he would represent a significant danger to the public. The c the the the charge here is child abuse and um I don't think this charge or the sentencing guidelines taken the adequate consideration of the long sustained torture in this case, as I indicated M Vander Ark's testimony, there was a long, long period of months uh of, of various punishments including uh bread with hot sauce. There's hot sauce that apparently contains two of the hottest peppers that we have in the world. Wall sits for an individual who practically I had no muscle running up and down stairs, cleaning out the garage with no pants on sleep deprivation in itself, uh putting alarms on him so he couldn't move or sleep, making a puke up food. There's bathroom timers sleeping in the closet with a tarp now which quite frankly might be considered animal check or, you know, animal abuse, but we have a human being here making his hands over his head and then at the end of his life, an eight hour practically ice bath that kill. So, no, I don't, I don't think any of those things are, are taking, are adequately taken into consideration by the guidelines and I don't think the guidelines quite frankly can, even these guidelines don't justify Mr Ferguson's actions. Mr Ferguson. I, I think you are a product of your environment, but I don't believe you that you're sorry. I don't, I don't think you have empathy. I don't think you have any emotion whatsoever. And that's what scares the court. It really scares me. Uh, I think you're sorry that you're here. I think you're sorry you got caught. I don't think you wanted him to die either like your mother because you would get caught and you wouldn't torture him anymore. And, uh, believe me, I, I have tried to sit here and try to think, well, maybe Mr Ferguson is not as bad as mom. I think you're just as bad if not worse, if not worse because you, you had a job. You, you could have Mr Johnson actually asked you couldn't, you have brought home a, a thing of food for, you could have gone to a neighbor and said, hey, my mom's abusing him. You could have, you could have grabbed him and got him out of there. You could have done any number of things to stop this and you chose not to your own brother. And uh this is where we're at. So based on all that, the sentence of the court, you serve 30 years to 100 years. Machine Department of Corrections credit for 592 days you've already served or it's gonna assess the $68 state clause under 35. That's really no additional kind of cost. Mr Ferguson, you were right to file an appeal. In this case, it retained, the attorney will be appointed to expense. Is a lawyer must be made for two days. Today's date form that you must complete return the court in that two days if you wish to question the appointment of an attorney.
