ALABAMA:
In Mobile, an attorney for Thomas Dale Ferguson, who is accused of
shooting a north Alabama man and his 11-year-old son to death in a
fishing boat, told jurors at Ferguson's capital murder trial Tuesday
that his client admits taking part in the crime.
But defense attorney Arthur Madden urged the jury not to convict him of
capital murder, which could bring a death sentence.
The court-appointed attorney claims Ferguson was influenced by his wife's
stepfather to participate in a scheme to steal a truck, which led to the
slayings of the boy and his dad. The crime outraged many in Colbert
County and forced the transfer of the trial to Mobile County.
Ferguson is 1 of 5 men charged in the July 20, 1997 deaths of
Harold
Pugh, 41, and his son, Joey, whose bullet-riddled bodies
were found in Cane
Creek near Barton. Another of the 5, Michael Craig
Maxwell, 25, has been
convicted of capital murder and will be sentenced
June 30. The jury, which
heard the case after the trial was moved to
Jefferson County, recommended
the death penalty.
Colbert County District Attorney Gary Alverson told jurors that Ferguson
was a willing participant in the killings, which occurred as Pugh's
pickup truck was stolen in order to be used in the robbery of Deposit
Guaranty National Bank in Belmont, Miss.
The truck was found burning in a wooded area shortly afterward. The
bank
robbers had tossed the jumpsuits they had worn and other gear used
in the
robbery inside the burning truck, Alverson said.
Alverson said Ferguson and Maxwell forced Pugh and his son into Pugh's
boat and later shot them, dumping the bodies into the creek. He said
Ferguson later ripped out the pedestal seat he had sat in during the
killings in hopes of eliminating fingerprint evidence. Shell casings
from the bullets later were recovered from Pugh's boat.
"He was a free and voluntary participant in everything that occurred,"
Alverson told the jury. "He practiced to deceive investigators."
Madden said Ferguson was a follower "heavily influenced" by Mark
David
Moore, his father-in-law, who, according to attorneys, masterminded the
Pugh kidnapping and the $40,000 bank robbery. Madden asked the jury
not
to believe testimony expected to come from Donald Ray
Risley, who is also
charged in the slaying.
Madden said Risley has been promised a 15-year sentence with the
chance
for parole in exchange for his testimony.
"He's going to walk away from this wreckage with 15 years with
parole,"
Madden said.
He said Ferguson sat down with investigators on Aug. 22, and explained
what happened.
"He was in the boat when Maxwell shot Harold and Joey Pugh," the
attorney
said. But he asked the jury to find him guilty of felony
murder not the
death penalty offense -- capital murder.
Colbert County Circuit Judge N. Pride Tompkins has sequestered the jury
for the trial that could end this week. He also ordered the windows in
the courtroom doors covered to prevent news cameras from photographing
inside.
Ferguson sat impassively beside his attorney. A woman seated in a
front
spectators' bench wiped away tears as the attorneys talked about the
bullet wounds in the victim's bodies, and the one that tore into the
boy's head.
In his confession, Maxwell said he and Ferguson confronted the Pughs as
they returned from fishing and forced them back into the boat. After
stopping at a secluded spot, Maxwell said he and Ferguson shot each
victim twice, and he dumped their bodies in the creek.
Trials for other 3 defendants are pending. Moore, 35, Kino Graham, 24,
and Risley, 24, are charged with murder.