The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday unanimously upheld the convictions of a New York man serving a 50-year sentence for killing one man and wounding another in a Bangor apartment in the early morning hours of Black Friday in 2015.
Thomas “Ferg” Ferguson, 38, of Brooklyn was found guilty of murder in the death of Robert “Ricco” Mark Kennedy, 38, of Bangor and guilty of aggravated assault in the wounding of Barry Jenkins, 43, also of Brooklyn, on Nov. 27, 2015. He was found guilty in June 2017 following a jury-waived trial.
His co-defendant, Robert “Rocco” Hansley, 28, also of Brooklyn, is serving 40 years for the same crime. He was convicted by a jury in November 2017.
Hansley was determined to be the shooter, but the murder weapon had been given to Ferguson, who arrived on the scene with Hansley, as payment for a drug debt, according to testimony at both trials.
Justices heard oral arguments in Ferguson’s appeal last month at the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland.
Ferguson’s attorneys argued that the trial judge found facts that were not in evidence, incorrectly allowed witnesses to identify Ferguson in court and did not have enough evidence to conclude that Ferguson was Hansley’s accomplice. The appeal also alleged prosecutors allowed the surviving victim to give false testimony.
Supreme Court Justice Andrew Mead rejected all the arguments in a 16-page ruling.
Maine’s high court will hear oral arguments in Hansley’s appeal next month.