Local man enters plea of guilty in mother’s killing

Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2004 | 9:48 a.m.

A 52-year-old man who claims he shot and killed his ailing 80-year-old mother "for her mercy" entered an agreement with prosecutors on Tuesday pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

Thomas Ferguson was originally charged with murder with use of a deadly weapon for the November 2003 killing of Hazel Ferguson. Under the terms of the agreement, the prosecution has agreed to recommend a sentence of life with the possibility of parole in 10 years at Ferguson's Jan. 11 sentencing.

Deputy Public Defender Robert Amundson said the crime was actually a "classic case of euthanasia, an unjust homicide because the law doesn't approve of such."

Amundson said Hazel Ferguson suffered from two broken hips that couldn't be surgically repaired and an advanced case of osteoporosis that saw her "shrink from 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-0." He said the chances of finding someone else in the entire country enduring the type of pain Hazel Ferguson was in would be a "one in 10 chance."

Hazel Ferguson was "wasting away and would cry herself to sleep because of the pain," according to Amundson.

He said although authorities alleged Thomas Ferguson was drunk, he only had "a couple of beers" when he came home the night of the killing. Amundson said his client told him "she (Hazel Ferguson) went to bed crying, and I just snapped."

Amundson said his client proceeded to go into Hazel Ferguson's room with a rifle and shot her once in the back of the head. He said as violent as the story sounds, the shot resulted in an "instantaneous, painless" death.

He said his client "still thinks he did his mom a favor, but knows what he did is wrong and he understands he must be held responsible under law." Thomas Ferguson "misses his mother."

Police arrested Thomas Ferguson after finding his mother dead in a home at the 2000 block of Magic Way near Boulder Highway.