by Roy Glenn
“Objection your honor!”
“Sustained. Mr. Douglas there is no room in this court for that type of theatrics.”
“My apologies your honor.” Marcus looked at the jury and smiled; he accomplished his point. “And my apologies to you, ladies and gentlemen. However, it was necessary to demonstrate how long it would take to beat somebody nineteen times. It took a little less than thirty seconds. And that is only if Mr. Damali's attacker didn't stop. Now, Mrs. Ferguson was watching this and was so petrified by what she was seeing to move. The attacker moves toward her and fifteen hits later she is dead too. The attacker then drops the murder weapon and leaves the murder scene. The bodies are discovered that same morning about 11:00 am by housekeeping who testified that the door was locked, and she entered, after knocking of course, with her key.
“Now after Roland Ferguson committed this crime of passion, he is careful to lock the door on his way out, goes home, and gets in bed. End of theory, blended with fact. The murder weapon was left at the scene. Police inventory of the golf clubs found both in Roland Ferguson’s home and at the country club where he is a member indicate that the murder weapon was not a part of either of those sets.” Marcus started to walk away from the jury but turned around quickly. “By the way, in case you were wondering, the police checked with the club staff and no one reported a missing nine iron.”
Marcus turned away from the jury and was handed a piece of paper by Tiffanie Powers, one of the lawyers at his firm. He stood before the prosecutions table. For the first time he addressed the jury from a different spot. He wanted the jury to be looking at the prosecution before he continued.
“Once the murder is discovered, Roland Ferguson is informed by police that his wife was murdered at seven o'clock that evening. Why the delay in notifying her next of kin? The Detectives don't go into any detail about the crime. They don't tell him that she was found brutally murdered in a cabin with another man. Detective Benjamin testified that upon receiving the news of his wife's death, Roland Ferguson began to cry, and I quote from detective Benjamin's testimony, 'he got weak in the knees and became somewhat hysterical'. Roland Ferguson comes in to identify his wife's body and is asked to speak with the detectives assigned to the case. The murder occurred in the city of Hiawassee, in Towns County. Why were City of Atlanta police assigned to the case?
“You see, the prosecution had spoken with officials of Towns County and just that quick, had the case transferred to their jurisdiction. Before the investigation was complete the prosecution had already found their man. Roland Ferguson was their only suspect. Roland Ferguson is the owner of Atlanta Life Insurance Company, among other things. He is a wealthy, well known and high-profile member of the Atlanta business community. The press, after hearing of Roland Ferguson's arrest, had a field day. What a feather in their cap to bring down a man of his stature. States Attorney General, Justice Department, maybe even Attorney General of the United States. This city has a long history of unwarranted prosecutions of high profile individuals like Roland Ferguson. This was a rush to judgment of the highest order. I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen that the prosecution looked no further then Roland Ferguson and created an organized set of assumptions devised to convict him of the murder of his wife Desireé Taylor Ferguson and Rasheed Damali. Ladies and gentlemen, Roland Ferguson didn't commit these murders, he couldn't have. And the prosecution has not presented you with any evidence to support their theory of how this crime took place. I only ask that in your deliberations that you consider the facts of this case. That you then separate the facts from the organized set of assumptions. Once you do, I am confident that you will return a verdict of not guilty. I thank you, ladies and gentlemen for your attention.”
