CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals suspended Wayne County Magistrate David E. Ferguson for 90 days without pay and ordered him to pay a $2,000 fine for violating state fishing law and trying to intimidate Department of Natural Resources officers who issued him a citation.
In September, the West Virginia Judicial Hearing Board recommended Ferguson be suspended for 30 days and pay a $2,000 fine. But Justice John Hutchison wrote that because of Ferguson's flagrant attempt to intimidate law enforcement officers, the court found that a harsher sanction was warranted.
Ferguson went fishing on Feb. 21, 2017, at the East Lynn Lake spillway. There were two undercover DNR officers watching for violations of the state's fishing laws at the lake that day.
One of the officers, Cpl. Larry Harvey, observed Ferguson catch his allotted six trout and then catch two more. Ferguson gave one each to his father and a third man who was with them. When the men went to leave, Harvey observed that Ferguson, his father and the third man each had six trout.
"The officers determined that the respondent’s actions were contrary to state regulation, so Corporal Harvey instructed Officer (Jacob) Miller to intercede and write a citation," Hutchison wrote.
Miller then followed Ferguson and the other two men to the parking lot and identified himself as a DNR officer, displayed his badge and identification card and then requested Ferguson's identification. Ferguson then dropped the tailgate of his truck, threw down his West Virginia Supreme Court photo identification card and said, "Well, I'm not lying about who I am, either," the opinion states.
The officers claimed Ferguson was agitated and exhibited bad behavior throughout the entire ordeal.
"This case is about much more than catching extra fish," Hutchison wrote. "Certainly, we want judicial officers to obey all laws, including state fishing regulations. However, if the respondent had behaved in a professional manner when receiving the fishing citation, this matter never would have resulted in a formal disciplinary proceeding."
Ferguson acted in a completely inappropriate, belligerent and coercive manner toward the DNR officers while they were engaged in law enforcement activities, Hutchison wrote. He threw down his Supreme Court photo identification card in an obvious attempt to obtain special treatment based upon his status as a judicial officer and he loudly asserted that the charges “ain’t going nowhere.”
Ferguson became enraged when Harvey directed him to remove his hands from his pockets and he angrily paced, waved his arms, screamed and argued with Harvey about the citation, as well as suggesting he would call their supervisors, Hutchison wrote.
"All of this was in an effort to intimidate these officers into not doing their jobs," Hutchinson wrote. "Finally, he lied to the JDC during his sworn statement when he denied acting in this disrespectful and coercive manner."
Hutchinson called the behavior by a judicial officials "wholly unacceptable, especially when it occurs in the context of a law enforcement matter. We conclude that the respondent’s actions were directly related to the administration of justice and demonstrated a selfish and callous disregard for our system of justice."
West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals case number: 19-0032