Guilty plea announced in ‘monkey fist’ assault case

Posted 12/1/21

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Wednesday, November 24, Justina Ferguson, 46, of Middletown, pleaded guilty before Orange County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown to …

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Guilty plea announced in ‘monkey fist’ assault case

Posted

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Wednesday, November 24, Justina Ferguson, 46, of Middletown, pleaded guilty before Orange County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown to Assault in the Second Degree in connection with an assault on her former boyfriend and a woman in a Town of Wallkill hotel room.

Prosecutors alleged that August 15, 2020, at about 1 a.m., the defendant, who was accompanied by others, tricked hotel staff into giving her room information and a key to the room where her former boyfriend was staying. An Orange County Grand Jury had charged Ferguson with assaulting her former boyfriend, as well as a woman who was sleeping in the room.

At the time that Ferguson pleaded guilty, she admitted entering her former boyfriend’s room and assaulting the woman with a weapon consisting of a knotted rope containing a weight. The assault was recorded by one of the individuals who had accompanied Ferguson to the room. The weapon, which is commonly called a “monkey-fist,” is designed to be used as a flail. The woman suffered a serious headwound as a result of the attack.

Ferguson faces up to seven years in State Prison and three-years post-release supervision when she is sentenced on February 17, 2022.