The common-law wife of Michael Von Ferguson already knew during her 20-year relationship she had suffered mental, physical and verbal abuse, and she realized how bad things had become when she showed up to work at Brickyard Plaza to find the area saturated with police.
On March 26, 2003, police arrested 48-year-old Ferguson after witnesses saw him climbing the roof of Media Play, 1198 E. 3200 South, with a rifle. Prosecutors say that after previously violating a protective order, which instructed him to stay away from his estranged common-law wife, Ferguson was setting up a sniper point overlooking the victim's workplace to kill her. Police found a rifle that was ready to fire and loaded with five rounds.
Ferguson was charged with second-degree felony attempted murder, and prosecutors enhanced a protective-order-violation charge to a felony due to Ferguson's previous conviction.
Now the man known to law enforcement as "the Brickyard sniper" is appealing to the Utah Supreme Court to lighten the charges against him.
Ferguson says that because he had no attorney when he was convicted on the first protective order violation in justice court, it shouldn't have been used as an enhancement to lift a class A misdemeanor to a third-degree felony.
A district court judge and the Utah Court of Appeals have already sided with Ferguson, but before the Utah Supreme Court on Wednesday, assistant Utah Attorney General Fred Voros argued that the enhancement should stay in place.
Voros argued that although U.S. Supreme Court decisions show that when someone is given jail time for a misdemeanor their Sixth Amendment right to an attorney kicks in, the conviction still shows Ferguson violated a protective order.
"He still violated the law, he was still found guilty of violating the law," Voros told justices.
Ferguson's attorney, Joan Watt, argued that legally the conviction was no longer valid and could therefore not be used as an enhancement in another criminal case.
Justices cited various U.S. Supreme court decisions on the matter but noted the fact that Ferguson did not actually serve any jail time on the first protective order violation may impact whether they will reinstate the enhancement.
A ruling is expected in the coming months.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com