Adoptive dad jailed for child abuse

Adoptive dad jailed for child abuse

The Associated Press • May 10, 2008

SPRINGFIELD - A man accused of hitting his adoptive daughter's fingers with a hammer and throwing one of his adoptive sons off a roof was sentenced to 65 years in prison Friday.

Clark County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard O'Neill sentenced James Ferguson, convicted last month of felonious assault, child endangerment and permitting child abuse.

Ferguson, 48, of Springfield, was accused of abusing five of his six adopted children. He had faced up to 185 years in prison.

During the trial, the 12-year-old girl testified that Ferguson hit her fingers with a hammer, and a 15-year-old boy testified that Ferguson once threw him off a roof, held his head under water and left him duct-taped to a chair for days without food or drink.

The boy showed the jury scars on his torso, arms and back he says came from beatings by Ferguson and Ferguson's wife, Vonda. He said he was punished once by being forced to stand against a wall for 16 straight hours.

Union County Prosecutor David Phillips, who handled the case because the family once lived in neighboring Union County, said he was pleased with the sentence.

"We had a situation where we have children that were abused on almost a daily basis," Phillips said. "The defendant showed absolutely no remorse."

Juror Melody Laywell said she attended the sentencing to get closure.

"It was just a very traumatic trial," Laywell said. "Lots of nightmares; still waking up sometimes from the things that we heard."

Defense attorney Kerry Donahue said Ferguson used reasonable discipline on the children, saying the evidence showed he only spanked them, which is not against the law. Donahue said the children exaggerated and there were discrepancies between what they told police and their testimony in court.

The children were removed from the home in 2004 and the couple surrendered custody in 2005.

Vonda Ferguson is scheduled to stand trial July 1. She has pleaded not guilty.