Ferguson sentenced

Handing down two partially suspended 20-year sentences to a Eureka man who sexually assaulting underage girls for years, District Judge Matthew Cuffe said he hoped the victims felt a measure of justice.

“No sentence I impose … is ever going to 100 percent make that happen, and I am sorry for that,” Cuffe said during the Oct. 26 hearing in Lincoln County District Court.

William James Ferguson, 48, will serve 10 years of two 20-year sentences — to run consecutively — behind bars. He pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual intercourse without consent as part of a deal with prosecutors. He will spend the remaining 30 years under supervision and receive credit for time served.

Authorities arrested Ferguson after he was caught using a ladder to peer at one of his victims through a window while she changed and took a shower earlier this year. During an interview with the victim, investigators learned Ferguson had sexually abused her from the age of nine forward.

According to court documents, Ferguson entered her bedroom at night and sexually assaulted the victim. Questioned by authorities, Ferguson admitted to both using the ladder to watch the victim undress and to sexually assaulting her, court documents said.

Amended court documents later included allegations that Ferguson had sexually assaulted a second minor.

Ferguson initially pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, which also included one felony count of sexual assault. He later struck a deal with prosecutors that would have seen him serve two 20-year sentences with all but four years suspended concurrently.

In late September, Cuffe rejected the deal, telling the attorneys that he planned on handing down a harsher punishment. Ferguson withdrew his plea and later struck a new deal with prosecutors.

Cuffe could have sentenced Ferguson on Oct. 19, but held off for a week to allow one of the victims the opportunity to read a statement to the court. As she is still a minor, the court withheld her name, but addressing Ferguson via videoconferencing technology, she said he had stolen her innocence while committing unimaginable harm to herself and her family.

“…[W]hat makes me more sick is that you have the nerve to call yourself a father and man. You’re not a man. You’re not a true father,” the victim said. “I hope you rot in that cell. … I wish you would be locked up in there forever.”

“I’ve been told that you are sorry, but I am certain you are only sorry because you got caught,” the victim told Ferguson before the court.

For his part, Ferguson used his opportunity to address the court to apologize for his behavior.

“I’m sorry for what I have done,” he said, broadcast from the Lincoln County Detention Center. “I’m sorry for the people I hurt. And God bless.”

Cuffe later commended the victim for reading the statement, calling it an act of bravery. Regarding Ferguson’s sentence, Cuffe said he had read the psychosexual analysis of Ferguson and accepted that the Eureka resident was considered at low risk for reoffending. Still, he said, there must be an aspect of punishment in a sentence for crimes of this nature.

His sentence “strikes as close as we can to the balance” between rehabilitation and justice, Cuffe told the court. When Ferguson does leave the custody of the Montana State Prison, he will be considered a level one sex offender and monitored.

“I think … given all of the information we have … it provides a measure of justice and punishment,” Cuffe said.