Ohio Woman Attempts Suicide After Abuse Conviction
Published: November 21, 2009
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio —An Ohio woman attempted to commit suicide immediately after her conviction on charges that she abused her five adopted children, accusations she denied.
Clark County Sheriff’s Office deputies were escorting 46-year-old Vonda Ferguson to a holding cell Friday after the guilty verdict when they noticed she had something in her mouth.
Sgt. Phil Sanders says deputies cleared a blue powder from her mouth, which she said were sleeping pills, and called an ambulance. Sanders said Ferguson, who never lost consciousness, told them she had the pills in her mouth in the courtroom and tried to kill herself because she wasn’t guilty.
Prosecutors say she hit the children with hammers and sticks until they bled and burned them with irons between 2000 and 2004.
Ferguson testified that she only used mild forms of corporal punishment.
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Reader Reactions
I disagree. I’ve seen it go both ways. Some people will fight to their last bit of strength to prove an innocence that isn’t there. And people that haven’t developed the art of defending themselves would rather die knowing their innocence but not knowing how to prove it. I don’t know whether this woman is innocent or guilty. It appears to be that she is mentally disturbed. At this point, she needs to be protected from herself and children need to be protected from her.
I don’t buy it. You don’t kill yourself because you’re innocent - you stay alive to appeal the decision. you kill yourself because of a guilty conscience.
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