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Home News Injustice in Ohio Darrell Ferguson to be executed for three murders on 8th August Darrell Ferguson to be executed for three murders on 8th August
Sunday, 06 August 2006
JAMES HANNAH
Associated Press
DAYTON, Ohio - Darrell Ferguson wants to die for his deeds. And he's done just about everything he can to make it happen.
Ferguson stabbed to death and stomped with steel-toed boots on a man using crutches. And he killed an elderly couple the same way, snuffing out the life of a man weak with cancer and a woman who took meals to her wheelchair-bound neighbors.
The 28-year-old Ferguson, a 230-pound former high school wrestler who says he worships Satan, admitted to the crimes time and time again, put up no defense and asked for the death penalty. At his sentencing, he taunted the families of the victims, saying he enjoyed the killings, had no remorse, and, if released from prison, would pick up where he left off.
Ferguson, whose nickname is "Gator," is on death row and scheduled to be executed Tuesday.
"If we are going to have the death penalty in Ohio, there is no other case and no defendant who deserves the ultimate penalty more," said Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr.
Defense attorney Victor Hodge believes Ferguson's behavior may be a ploy to avoid spending the rest of his life in prison by committing suicide.
"He just pulled the right strings to make sure the government does it," Hodge said.
Ferguson was convicted of aggravated murder in the Christmas Day, 2001, death of Thomas King and the deaths of Arlie Fugate, 68, and his wife, Mae, 69, the next day. The victims, all of Dayton, knew Ferguson and let him into their homes.
Ferguson grew up in Dayton. He frequently wandered the streets and spent nights in warehouses and alleys. Ferguson said at age 9 he began huffing - inhaling chemical vapors to achieve a feeling of euphoria. He started drinking at 15 and using crack cocaine at 18.
Ferguson left school in 10th grade, did some street boxing to earn money, and, at one point, worked for a vinyl-siding company.
On Dec. 21, 2001, Ferguson got a two-day pass from the drug-treatment program in Cincinnati he had been ordered to attend as a result of a burglary conviction. He took to the streets of Dayton, smoking crack and huffing.
On Dec. 25, King let Ferguson into his home. King was later found stabbed eight times and had a bootprint-shaped bruise on his chest.
After the killing, Ferguson went to a bridge by the river to think.
"I tried to put a bread bag over my head and just do myself in because I knew what I did was wrong," he later told police.
That same day, the Fugates were picked up by their son, James Cornett, and taken to his nearby home. He rented a western movie for his father, who loved westerns, and the couple enjoyed a Christmas dinner prepared by Cornett before returning home.
Cornett returned to his parents' home Dec. 27 and found their bodies lying side-by-side on the living-room floor. They had both been stabbed, and the rings were missing from their fingers. Arlie Fugate had an impression of a boot on his cheek.
Prosecutors said robbery was the motive for the three killings. Stolen were a couple of televisions, some jewelry, a boom box and some change from a water jug. The items were sold to buy crack cocaine and paint for huffing.
Ferguson admitted the killings to police investigators, to prosecutors and in a letter to the trial judge.
"I planned on killing other people, but I got caught too soon," Ferguson wrote.
During a psychological exam to determine whether Ferguson was competent to take charge of his case, waive a jury trial and plead guilty, he told the psychologist he had killed eight other people.
Dayton police Detective Doyle Burke investigated Ferguson's claims and found them without merit. He said there were no unsolved homicides or missing persons that matched up with what Ferguson described.
"I think he wanted to boost his numbers in the serial-killer ranks," Burke said.
On Sept. 9, 2003, Ferguson appeared before a three-judge panel in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court and pleaded guilty. After prosecutors presented evidence and Ferguson presented no mitigating evidence, the panel found Ferguson guilty and sentenced him to death.
In April, the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously upheld Ferguson's conviction and sentence, ruling that evidence supported the conclusion he was competent. On July 20, the Ohio Adult Parole Authority recommended that clemency be denied, saying there didn't seem to be any justifiable basis for mercy.
Just prior to sentencing by the trial court in 2003, Ferguson hurled a verbal dagger into the hearts of the victims' families, reading a statement against the wishes of his attorneys.
"I took the satisfaction ... of killing your loved ones with pleasure. And I enjoyed it," Ferguson said. "I will never show any remorse, even on the day I die."