Thomas Ferguson was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for the murder of a father and his son
According to court documents Thomas Ferguson was part of a group of five men that were robbing banks: Mark Moore, Michael Craig Maxwell, Donald Risley, and Kino Graham. The decision to murder Harold and Joey Pugh was to eliminate any possible witnesses. Harold and his eleven year old son Joey Pugh would be each shot twice in the head and thrown into a river
Thomas Ferguson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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Thomas Ferguson Case
On July 21, 1997, Harold Pugh and his 11-year old son Joey Pugh were reported missing to the Colbert County Sheriff’s Department. Mike Sennett, a friend of the Pughs, testified that in the early evening hours of July 21, after hearing that the Pughs were missing, he and several friends went looking for the Pughs at Cane Creek in Colbert County. The local authorities and a rescue squad were also searching for the Pughs in this same area. Sennett testified that Harold and his son were avid fishermen. Making one more pass up Cane Creek in his boat before going home, Sennett found the bodies of Harold and Joey Pugh floating in the creek. Autopsies conducted the following day revealed that each victim had been shot twice in the head.
“Several days later, on July 26, 1997, a boat was found in a clearing in a remote wooded area in neighboring Franklin County. In the boat were rods and reels, a tacklebox, life jackets, a baseball-style cap with a wristwatch inside it (on the boat’s front seat), and another baseball-style cap on the backseat. At Thomas Ferguson’s trial, the individual who found the boat testified that because he had heard television and radio reports that the sheriff’s department was looking for a boat, a description of which matched that of the boat he found in the wooded area, he telephoned the sheriff’s department.
“Oscar Hood of the Colbert County Sheriff’s Department testified that he received the call concerning the boat and that when he arrived at the location, the boat appeared to be the boat that the authorities were looking for in connection with the Pughs’ murders. Hood ran a registration check on the boat and determined that it was in fact Harold Pugh’s boat. Other testimony at trial showed that a pedestal-type seat had been removed from the boat and that two spent 9mm shell casings were found inside the boat.
“Further testimony revealed that on the day the victims’ bodies were found, two armed men wearing dark-colored army fatigues, hooded shirts, sunglasses, and gloves had robbed the Deposit Guaranty National Bank in Belmont, Mississippi. An employee at the bank testified that she could not identify the men, but that she could identify the truck the men had fled in after the robbery. She described the truck as a black Chevrolet Z-71 pickup truck with a chrome toolbox in the rear bed. Shortly after the robbery, a truck matching that description was found by an officer of the Belmont Police Department five miles from the bank, in a heavily wooded area. The truck, which had been set on fire, was discovered after the police saw the smoke from the fire. On the front passenger-side floorboard of the truck, the police found a pedestal-type seat, which, according to testimony, was typical of the seats found in the front of bass-fishing boats.
“Following his arrest, Thomas Ferguson gave police a statement concerning his involvement in the robbery and murders of Harold and Joey Pugh and in the robbery of the bank in Mississippi. Thomas Ferguson told police that he and his four codefendants-Mark Moore, Michael Craig Maxwell, Donald Risley, and Kino Graham-had conspired to rob banks to get money. According to Thomas Ferguson, they bought clothing matching that described by the employee of the bank robbed in Belmont, Mississippi, to wear during the robberies, and Moore also bought guns, handheld radios, and other items to use in the robberies. Thomas Ferguson told police that Moore was the ‘leader’ of the group.
“In addition, Thomas Ferguson told police that on the day of the murders, he and the others were looking for two cars to steal to use in the Belmont bank robbery. According to Thomas Ferguson, while he, Moore, Maxwell, Graham, and Risley were looking for a car to steal, they saw the Pughs’ truck parked near the boat landing at Cane Creek. When the Pughs arrived at the landing in their boat, Thomas Ferguson said, Harold Pugh got out of the boat and into his truck. According to Ferguson, before he knew it, Maxwell was holding a gun to the Pughs and was ordering the Pughs to get back into the boat. Thomas Ferguson said that Maxwell jumped into the boat, along with Moore, and that Moore then ordered Ferguson to get into the boat. According to Ferguson, Maxwell was armed with a 9mm pistol and Moore was armed with a .357 pistol. Ferguson maintained that he did not have a weapon. Thomas Ferguson stated that they then left in the boat with the victims, heading downstream, while Risley and Graham waited with the truck. According to Ferguson, he heard a shot and saw that Maxwell had shot Harold Pugh. Ferguson claimed that he did not know who shot Joey Pugh, but he did say that Maxwell and Moore threw the victims’ bodies into the creek.
“Ferguson stated that after the shooting he became physically ill and that he was throwing up and very upset. Ferguson further stated that after the murders, Moore threatened him, telling Ferguson that if he told anyone about what had happened, he would kill Ferguson and Ferguson’s family.
“Ferguson stated that after returning the boat to the landing where Graham and Risley were waiting, he and the others then loaded the boat onto the trailer and drove the Pughs’ truck and the boat to a clearing in the woods in Franklin County. Thomas Ferguson said that he removed a pedestal-type seat from the boat and threw it inside the victims’ truck.
“The following morning, according to Thomas Ferguson, Moore came to his house and the two left together to pick up Risley. Then, Ferguson said, they went to Maxwell’s apartment where everyone, except Graham, who did not come to Maxwell’s apartment, discussed plans to rob the bank in Belmont, Mississippi. Ferguson stated that Maxwell and Risley, who, according to Ferguson, were going to be the ones to go inside the bank, left Maxwell’s apartment in Maxwell’s car, followed by him and Moore in Moore’s truck, and drove to where they had left the victims’ truck and boat. From that location, Thomas Ferguson said, Risley drove the victims’ truck to Belmont, and Maxwell drove his own car, while he and Moore followed in Moore’s truck. Maxwell stated that he and the other men then drove to a location in Belmont, near the bank, where they left Maxwell’s car. From there, Ferguson said, Maxwell and Risley drove the victims’ truck to the bank as he and Moore, who were to act as ‘covers’ while the bank was being robbed, followed in Moore’s truck. Thomas Ferguson stated that after Maxwell and Risley had committed the robbery, Maxwell drove the victims’ truck back to the location where they left Maxwell’s car, and he and Moore met them at that location. Ferguson said that they put their guns in Moore’s truck, and put the clothes they had worn in the robbery in the victims’ truck. According to Ferguson, Risley then poured gasoline on the victims’ truck and set it on fire. Ferguson stated that he and the others then returned to Maxwell’s apartment, where they divided the proceeds of the bank robbery-approximately $40,000.
“Shortly after the questioning ended and Thomas Ferguson had completed his statement, Ferguson told Investigator Frank Brians that he had something else he wanted to say. Ferguson then stated that he had lied in his earlier statement when he said that Moore was at Cane Creek and on the boat when the Pughs were murdered. Ferguson now said that Moore was not at Cane Creek and that Moore was not on the boat when the victims were shot, but that only Ferguson and Maxwell were on the boat with the victims. Ferguson, who still maintained that he was not armed while on the boat, now claimed that Maxwell shot both victims.
“Donald Risley, one of Ferguson’s codefendants, testified at Ferguson’s trial and corroborated most of Ferguson’s statement to police. Risley’s wife and Ferguson’s wife were first cousins, and Risley had been friends with Ferguson for approximately eight years. Risley testified that Ferguson had approached him and asked him if he wanted to get involved in the plan to rob banks to get some ‘easy money.’ (R. 510.) Risley stated that Moore and Maxwell were the ‘leaders of the group.’ (R. 514.) Risley, like Ferguson, testified concerning the circumstances surrounding the murders at Cane Creek and the bank robbery in Belmont. Risley testified that on the afternoon of the murders, Ferguson picked him up at a friend’s, Daryl May’s, house and that he and Ferguson then went to Maxwell’s apartment. From there, Risley said, they went to Cane Creek where they saw the victims’ truck parked at the boat landing. Risley stated that he was armed with a .357 pistol, that Maxwell had a 9mm pistol, that Graham had a Colt .45 pistol, and that Ferguson was carrying a .357 pistol. Testifying to essentially the same facts as Ferguson did concerning how they approached the Pughs and ordered them into the boat, Risley further testified that Maxwell and Ferguson got into the boat with the victims and Maxwell drove the boat downstream. Risley said that the victims were sitting in the back of the boat, while Ferguson was standing near the front and was pointing a gun at the Pughs. Risley testified that neither he nor Ferguson [was] threatened into robbing the Pughs and that no one threatened Ferguson to get him to get into the boat. According to Risley, when Ferguson and Maxwell returned in the boat, approximately 10 minutes after they had left, neither victim was in the boat and Ferguson was sitting on a pedestal-type seat in the front of the boat.
“Risley continued to testify to the events that occurred after the murders up until the time of the robbery of the bank in Mississippi. Risley testified to essentially the same facts as did Ferguson in his statement to police. Risley stated that Ferguson took the pedestal-type seat out of the boat and put it in the truck because, Risley said, Ferguson was afraid that he might have touched it and left his fingerprints on it. Risley also stated that while he was at Cane Creek, Ferguson never appeared to be sick or upset, and he never saw Ferguson throw up. Risley further told police that several days after the murders, Ferguson, in response to Risley’s question whether he had shot the Pughs, said that he had and further told Risley that he and Maxwell had shot them because they did not want any witnesses. Ferguson also told Risley that he shot Harold Pugh and that Maxwell shot Joey Pugh. Maxwell, who was also present during Risley’s and Ferguson’s conversation about the shooting, told Risley that Harold was not dead after the first shot, so he shot him again and he made Ferguson shoot Joey again.
“Other evidence at trial showed that the 9mm pistol police took from Moore’s house was the weapon that fired at least one of the bullets recovered from Harold Pugh’s body. The two spent shell casings found in the boat were also fired by the 9mm pistol recovered from Moore’s house. The evidence further showed that one of the bullets recovered from Harold’s body and one of the bullets recovered from Joey’s body were lead semi-wad cutter bullets that could be loaded in either a .38 or .357 pistol. Although the State’s firearms expert could not conclusively state that a .357 pistol taken from Moore’s house was the weapon that fired two of the bullets recovered from the victims’ bodies, he was able to say that the pistol was the type of pistol that could fire that particular type of bullet. The State’s firearms expert also testified that a bag of ammunition, which had been taken from Ferguson’s house and submitted to him for evaluation, contained ammunition that was capable of being fired through the .357 pistol recovered from Moore’s house.
“There was also testimony that Ferguson, Maxwell, Graham, and Moore had all worked together at a furniture distribution center in Russellville, in Franklin County, Alabama. All of the men, except Graham, quit their jobs, or failed to return to work, in the early to middle part of July 1997, just several weeks before the Pughs’ murders and the bank robbery in Belmont. Graham last reported to work on August 20, 1997. Also, Daryl May, a friend and coworker of Ferguson’s, testified that on the afternoon of the murders, Maxwell came to his house to pick up Ferguson, who was watching television there. May also testified that because Risley did not have a car, he drove him to work every morning, except the morning of July 21, the day after the murders. May said that Risley did not show up for work that morning. Testimony also showed that in late July 1997, shortly after the bank robbery in Belmont, Ferguson paid $1,750 in cash for a used car, using ‘new’ $20 bills.”
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/al-supreme-court/1303673.html
