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Los Angeles ex-cop sentenced to 102 years in raid case
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Los Angeles police officer who participated in home invasion robberies staged to look like police raids was sentenced Monday to 102 years in prison.
William Ferguson, 35, was convicted of participating in more than 40 phony raids from early 1999 to June 2001 at homes in working-class neighborhoods while he worked at the department's scandal-ridden Rampart Division.
In January, a federal jury convicted him of conspiracy to deprive people of their civil rights, conspiracy to possess marijuana and cocaine, violating the civil rights of others and using a firearm during a violent crime.
Ferguson's sentence was so severe because he was convicted of four firearms charges which carry a mandatory sentence of 82 years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Gary Allen Feess said that Congress passed such sentencing laws "because they don't trust people like me."
"It's not a reasonable sentence," he said.
After the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Miller said prosecutors were pleased.
Ferguson's attorney, Philip Deitch, said it was unfair and violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.
"He's going to be 147-years-old when he gets out," Deitch said. "He's probably not going to see his children again."
Deitch said Ferguson was unfairly punished because prosecutors would not give Ferguson a plea agreement unless he testified against his brother Joseph Ferguson, an ex-Long Beach officer. Otherwise, his client would have pleaded guilty long ago, he said.
Joseph Ferguson, 33, was convicted of charges that included conspiring to violate civil rights and conspiring to possess drugs with the intent to distribute them. He was sentenced earlier this month to more than eight years in prison.
Besides the Ferguson brothers, 15 other people have pleaded guilty or were convicted in the case, including lawmen from other departments. Two others who have been indicted are fugitives.
"He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance." Declaration of Independance, July 4, 1776 11B30
Boy, when you guys put someone behind bars you don't mess about! Here in the UK even a murderer won't get put away long enough to lose his sun tan or grow a beard!
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
game keeper wrote:Boy, when you guys put someone behind bars you don't mess about! Here in the UK even a murderer won't get put away long enough to lose his sun tan or grow a beard!
For what they did they shouldn't be alive, they should hold a public hanging where every LEO in the country should be forced to watch.
"He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance." Declaration of Independance, July 4, 1776 11B30
sore shoulder wrote:U.S. District Judge Gary Allen Feess said that Congress passed such sentencing laws "because they don't trust people like me."
"It's not a reasonable sentence," he said.
It sounded quite reasonable to ME. From those to whom much is given, much is also demanded. And since he did not handle his trust well he should be punished severely. To use one's badge and position to commit crimes is the height of atrocity. He should have thought about not seeing his kids again BEFORE he participated in these raids.
Paul - in Pereira
"He is the best friend of American liberty who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion." -- John Witherspoon
Yes sir, I'm all for hanging the guilty and there's nothing worse than a "bent copper" but I don't like to tar all LEO's with the same brush.
Because of a couple of gun owning Brits going berserk we all lost our freedom to own semi auto rifles and handguns, as we gun owners were all tarred with the same brush by the Media and the Government!
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
I believe every LEO that uses their position to victimize people should pay a big price. But, when I can't get more than 25 years for a murderer, this isn't even proportional.
Sore shoulder, I don't need you or anyone to force me to watch anything. There's good and bad in anyprofession and law enforcement isn't exempt. I know my responsibilities and carry them out with honor and integrity because when it's all said and done that's all I have.
kimwcook wrote:I believe every LEO that uses their position to victimize people should pay a big price. But, when I can't get more than 25 years for a murderer, this isn't even proportional.
Sore shoulder, I don't need you or anyone to force me to watch anything. There's good and bad in any profession and law enforcement isn't exempt. I know my responsibilities and carry them out with honor and integrity because when it's all said and done that's all I have.
Kim, if I were king then murder would get the death penalty. Somehow my name never gets put on the ballot for king... anyway, I've no problem with the sentence he got - but I DO have a problem with the light sentencing for the most heinous of crimes that is all to typical of our nation today. And you're right, there's NO profession that doesn't have it's bad apples. Human nature is... well, human nature. And too many humans lean towards the rotten side of the equation.
Paul - in Pereira
"He is the best friend of American liberty who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion." -- John Witherspoon
And I have no problem with spanking those that need spanked. I'll be one of the first in line with my paddle. But, to lump all persons of a profession into one large pot and call them all bad, or soon to be, or we'll just wait until they are, is flawed and festers a negative mindset that smacks of conspiracy and hatred around every corner.
I wanna say 102 yrs. is too much, but then I look what he did and what he
hid behind while doing it.
But dang, 102??????????
Now when they say "four firearm charges for 82 yrs." does that mean because
he was wearing his pistol? Or did he brandish it four times while doing these things?
I'm not a fan of mandatory anything, it stinks like "zero tolerance" where you
don't have a choice but to suspend a little girl for accidentally bringing a pair
of nail clippers to school. She gets lumped in with a punk threatening people
with a knife.
I wonder if there is a line of folks in the clink who are appealing because this
guy made their collar?
Jeeps
Semper Fidelis
Pay attention to YOUR Bill of Rights, in this day and age it is all we have.
The saddest, most sickening bit is if any of these mopes' victims had shot back - or shot back first when their door was kicked in - the civillian would die and the mopes would be lauded as heros... after cooking up the "raid" paperwork.
We just had another Cop in Chicago fired for Ultraviolence. He was on the Block once before, but the Union backed him up. Funny though... they wouldnt lift a finger to help the poor Rookie who is now locked up in an Iowa cell because he KO'd a drunk who chased him down.
Not connected enough (i.e. didn't have enough divulgable Chicago dirt yet) to deserve protecting I guess.
I know that there are three zillion false complaints filed every day - but why some of these mopes keep getting protected by the "thin blue line" is utterly beyond me.
C2N14... because life is not energetic enough. מנא, מנא, תקל, ופרסין Daniel 5:25-28... Got 7.62?
Not Depressed enough yet? Go read National Geographic, July 1976 Gott und Gewehr mit uns!
kimwcook wrote:And I have no problem with spanking those that need spanked. I'll be one of the first in line with my paddle. But, to lump all persons of a profession into one large pot and call them all bad, or soon to be, or we'll just wait until they are, is flawed and festers a negative mindset that smacks of conspiracy and hatred around every corner.
+1
Quinn
We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand, of overwhelming power on the other.
kimwcook wrote:And I have no problem with spanking those that need spanked. I'll be one of the first in line with my paddle. But, to lump all persons of a profession into one large pot and call them all bad, or soon to be, or we'll just wait until they are, is flawed and festers a negative mindset that smacks of conspiracy and hatred around every corner.
+1
Quinn
+2
Like Ambracol, I wish our punishment for murder (and for rape) was a swift and certain execution. Punishment - to be effective as a deterent - needs three components. Swift (fast), certain - and undesireable. What we have in our country now is the exact opposite: IF one gets caught and IF they get prosecuted and IF they get convicted then they MIGHT serve jail time - where they don't have to do a lick of work, get three square meals a day, can work out and learn to be a better criminal, free medical care, and can sue just about anyone they want. Most of the time it is just a slap on the wrist, and even for murders, they often see the light of day in less than a decade.
I'm not making excuses for LEO's who go bad - but I WILL NOT paint our heroes - and that is what most of them are - in a broad brush because of a few bad apples. Thank you to all the honest LEO's here for doing a needed, frustrating, and often-thankless job!!!
Ysabel Kid wrote:...I'm not making excuses for LEO's who go bad - but I WILL NOT paint our heroes - and that is what most of them are - in a broad brush because of a few bad apples. Thank you to all the honest LEO's here for doing a needed, frustrating, and often-thankless job!!!
I don't disagree. Even still, it will be a day for great rejoicing when more of the 97% stop covering for the 3%. (Look up the now disbanded Chicago Special Operations Section (SOS) sometime. The Beat Guys called the SOS the "Sons of Supervisors" and the Department HQ routinely covered up for them.)
Maybe I'm just too attached to my ethics, but in no field of work could I ever "look the other way" or stand up for coworkers who so egregiously violate their Oaths and the Public Trust.
But this is Chicagoland. Outside of the other similarly corrupt ratholes we call major cities I really do think that this kind of corruption is pretty rare.
C2N14... because life is not energetic enough. מנא, מנא, תקל, ופרסין Daniel 5:25-28... Got 7.62?
Not Depressed enough yet? Go read National Geographic, July 1976 Gott und Gewehr mit uns!
kimwcook wrote:I believe every LEO that uses their position to victimize people should pay a big price. But, when I can't get more than 25 years for a murderer, this isn't even proportional.
Sore shoulder, I don't need you or anyone to force me to watch anything. There's good and bad in anyprofession and law enforcement isn't exempt. I know my responsibilities and carry them out with honor and integrity because when it's all said and done that's all I have.
There may be good and bad in every proffesion, but you can hardly compare a bad carpenter or a bad plumber to a bad cop. The fact you would do so is a prime example of why we have little hope against the system, because you have just reduced the worst predator imaginable, a bad guy with a badge and a gun, to the status of a "poor performer". A bad cop as seen has the capacity to be almost unstoppable and is 1,000 times more evil than the worst criminals. Also, I refuse to believe this was the first time these guys did something like this, that it is unusual behavior, and that I should not be making a point to prove it. Facts are, this type of behavior is becoming more and more prevalent. And I can and will lump the entire proffesion together until they stop covering each others dirty deeds. Cops and the entire justice system consider themselves seperate and above the law, granting each other "proffesional courtesy" and cops rarely get the same level of prosecution as a regular citizen, if they get prosecuted at all. Take the pig who shot the boy with a shotgun and killed him during a bogus SWAT raid. Charges dropped. That is insanity, and it is also the norm. You can give up your false mantra of "it's just a few bad apples" because it just is not true. More like there are a few good apples, and even they wont hardly do anything about the bad ones unless forced to.
The only reason these guys did not get away with this is because the old lady they shot 38 times was the grandmother of a prominant Atlanta business woman who had connections. Me or someone on my street? Pffffft. Case closed, we found drugs and he resisted. I gauruntee this happens all the time.
"He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance." Declaration of Independance, July 4, 1776 11B30
There's some how the thought that what ever happens in the justice system is controlled by cops, or it's the "thin blue line" that controls everything. You seem to forget there are lawyers and judges involved that aren't attached or a part of the blue line. Law enforcement is only at the front lines and not the ones making the judgement. That's the realm of the jury and/or judge, not the cops. So blaming the short comings of the judicial system on one facet of the equation is an incomplete and faulty evaluation.
I would love to be able to sit down with defense counsel and work out the penalty for the people I deal with. Some seem to think it's a conspiracy of cops, defense counsel, prosecutors and judges working together to upset the cart and they couldn't be further from the truth. All of the pieces in the game have their own part to play and they don't always work together. In fact they usually are at odds with each other in one form or another.
The conspiracy fear factor is alive and well. And, will continue, if some keep professing big brothers out there and he's not there to help you.
Some would like to turn this forum into a soap box for the second amendment and I think it's appropriate as long as the topic is on topic and not derogatory and attacking. Healthy discussion is just that healthy. Continually attacking a certain profession isn't healthy and stagnating.
Did you miss the part in your own post where it states, “After the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Miller said prosecutors were pleased.â€
Certainly there is no hunting like the hunting of man and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else thereafter.
Ernest Hemingway, "On the Blue Water," Esquire, April 1936
Soreshoulder, I agree that these gents should be dealt with severely. Law enforcement officers have a sacred trust with their community and once that is violated the price should be severe.
However, what about the other 837,000+ law enforcement personnel in this country who are out there protecting the community to the best of their ability? Do they deserve any graditude? Haven't seen any appreciation post for the off-duty cop that stopped the crazy guy from killing more people at the Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City last year.... hmmm you probably missed that one.
Did you know that medical doctors kill more than 100,000 people a year from medical malpractice..... Nope you probably haven't paid attention to that one either..... heck chances are you're probably safer dealing with one of us crazy cops on the street then going to your local hospital.
But of course I already know your response because you have shown your colors on this board over and over. Maybe using the IRS simulation check for professional counselling.... it may help.
