Remember the Montana judge who gave a lenient sentence to a teacher who raped his student, claiming the student was "older than her chronological age?" Turns out that's not his only, shall we say, questionable ruling.
On Monday, Judge G. Todd Baugh presided over the sentencing for Pacer Anthony Ferguson, who punched his girlfriend and fractured her face in three places. Ferguson has spent the past decade in and out of jail, ever since he was sentenced at 14 for releasing a train car that rolled down the tracks and killed a man. Although a jury in this most recent case did convict him of misdemeanor assault, he escaped more serious charges of felony aggravated assault and felony witness tampering.
For the most part, his sentence for the crime seems appropriate: Baugh ordered him to the maximum six months in jail and $3,800 in restitution for his victim's medical fees. But wait, there's more!
Baugh also ordered Ferguson, Bart Simpson-style, to write "boys do not hit girls" 5,000 times. Ferguson must mail Baugh what must be the most repetitive letter of all time by May 23. (No word on Baugh's attitude toward girls hitting boys, boys hitting boys, or anyone hitting anyone else.)
That's not the only exciting development in Ferguson's life. That same day he appeared for a disposition hearing for violating the terms of his release for an attempted knifepoint robbery in 2003. For multiple violations, including the most recent conviction for hitting his girlfriend, he was sentenced to eight years in prison. The six-month jail sentence will be served concurrently. We hope the Montana State Prison has lots of stationery.
