right you may be seated right welcome back ladies and gentlemen uh we'll commence with closing arguments Mr Roberts good afternoon ladies and gentlemen once again on behalf of the people of the state of Michigan I want to thank you for your time and attention to these matters uh as we've repeatedly indicated and as now you've seen through the evidence and the testimony in this case these are incredibly difficult incredibly sensitive matters and we certainly do thank you for your time and attention to them I usually like to start opening or excuse me closing statements in
homicide trials such as this by showing you a photograph and that photograph is usually the victim in the case prior to their death in this case our victim was a child would hope to be able to show you a photograph of what he looked like within a few months of his death I can't do that I can't do that because the defendant apparently took it upon herself to make sure there were no photographs taken of the victim in the six months leading up to his death an opening statement I told you about that song what's
the matter here the line from that song answer me and take your time what could be the awful crime he could do at so young an age so ask yourselves then what was the awful crime that Timothy committed to have these atrocities perpetrated upon him what did he do he stole some food he took some things apart that's all I heard and he paid for that with his life and like I told you I can't answer the why I can't answer why the cold old and lowly things were done to him because it doesn't make
sense it does not make any sense that a 15-year-old should be made to suffer the way Timothy was to be made a prisoner the way Timothy was and make no mistake he was a prisoner in that home we give prisoners rights prisoners of War have rights Timothy had none of those because the person charged with his care and custody refused them kept him locked up in the basement of that home with motion sensors and alarms to make sure he didn't even go upstairs let alone anywhere else but not to even go upstairs alarms on his
body to go off he didn't like the noise motion sensors on the stairs if he tried to go upstairs alarms on his small room closet door if he tried to get out motion sensors if he put his arm down during a punishment camera is watching every moment and at the heart of all of this the defendant that alone ladies and gentlemen is a basis for first-degree child abuse the serious mental infliction of harm upon Timothy as a result of her actions is all you need to find to find that the defendant is guilty of first-degree
child abuse and that's the tip of the iceberg towards the end of Miss van Arch's testimony yesterday I kept pressing her on that question what did he do what is it that he was doing apparently so desperate for food that he ate frozen chicken nuggets and uncooked hamburger explain this to the jury so they can understand so they can make sense of why it was that you chose to do these things to them and she got mad at the end towards the end of her testimony it became clear that she was still mad at Timothy
he was sneaky and deceitful over and over again he was sneaky and deceitful he'd sneak things when he wasn't supposed to he was deceitful he would lie about things and you heard over and over again in the text messages he's lying about that he's not going to get away with it this is all fake all of those things so ask yourself this question who do we know was sneaky and deceitful here the defendant and it started when after 18 minut minutes of her son being unresponsive and so obviously deceased she finally decides to call 911
but she better get her story straight before we call 911 so what's the last thing she says before she calls 911 to Paul we'll have to tell him he's been on a hunger strike before that where's your belt put your belt on him I want to make it look like he's been this way no emotion in her voice no tears start with why does it take you 18 minutes to call 911 you saw you saw the image you saw Timothy laying there on the floor you heard them repeatedly talking about how he was stiff how
he wasn't moving how he wasn't breathing how his eyes were fixed open and they don't call 911 who does that how does a parent do that Paul asks her should we we call 911 should we call for 9 minutes not yet and it's almost another 10 minutes before she calls after that then when she calls 911 The Lies start I came and check on them at 5:30 and then when I came down he was unresponsive on his bed both completely false we know he wasn't checked on at 5:30 we know the last thing that she
did and said to her son you could hear it Lieutenant hooks from his testimony today the last thing she did to her son was to drag him into a small room throw him down on the ground like he was a piece of meat on a tar in the room where she says he wanted to be that was his comfort positions him in front of the camera so she can see calls him stupid then when he has the indignity to roll over no that's not good enough she comes back positions him again in front of the
camera makes the dog lick his face to get a reaction from holds his mouth closed and said see dummy you don't need to open your mouth to breathe imagine those being the last words you said to your child so that's what it was that's the last thing anybody said to Timothy you don't need to open your mouth to breathe dummy shut away in isolation after months and months physical and mental abuse at the hands of the defendant and Timothy Slipped Away no I went to check on him at 5:30 lie I I have to put
you on hold cuz I have to pull him off the bed Li he's been on a hunger strike for the last couple of weeks but I I was just about to call a doctor Li then the lies continue officer py detective pkey interviewing the defendant why the why is there a lock on the fridge in the freezer he he's got access the locks are on the fridge in the freezer because he would leave the the door open but but he has access to the pantry live text messages over and over again talking about how he
was able to get into the pantry and her repeated commands to Paul starting in February to make sure that all the food is locked up up and Timothy doesn't have access including the pantry yesterday on the sand that shifts into well he had he did have access to a small cabinet where there were some canned goods so this boy who was dying of emaciation we're supposed to believe that he's going to have the ability to go into a cabinet to get canned goods get a can opener open them and cook himself some food well we
know that's not true he's not allowed to have food he can't do that the only thing you can hear in these text messages that he's allowed to have for those last few weeks after the June 13th photograph which we'll get to in a minute is the bread with hot sauce did you hear any testimony from her about full meals that she would cook for him anything no what's her response when she gets sent the picture he's two mom mama we need to actually feed him that's the phrase we need to actually feed him he's bone
thingin mama I think we honest I think honestly we need to actually feed him and what's our response give him bread give him bread with peanut butter the unresponsiveness is probably fake but I see what you mean yesterday she wants you to believe I didn't see that photograph she literally uses the word c in her text message I see what you mean and then tries to split hairs about what that phrase means let's assume she didn't see the photograph for just a moment your child is so alarmed that he's saying he's bone thin I think
we actually need to feed him and your first response is give him bread what does that tell you about her mindset her mindset is that's what he gets to eat he gets bread maybe some peanut butter that's what he gets to eat not the canned goods that he can get access to under the cabinet and heaven forbid he commit the crime of sneaking a piece of candy or eating some frozen chicken nuggets give him bread detected peacey well after the stroke he went on a hunger strike that was a lie Paul told you it was
a lie he never went on a hunger strike there isn't a single reference here to him being on a hunger strike in January or in July the bigger binder more of the text messages just about Timothy all of the text messages just about Timothy I gave her the option yesterday I said show me the text about the hunger strike you're so concerned about everything you're so concerned about watching the camera setting the alarms making sure the food is what it's supposed to be making sure he's running stairs doing walls getting cold baths all of that
stuff show me in here where you're talking about him being on a hunger strike nothing the hunger strike thing isn't real and think about it for just a moment if your child was on a hunger strike what would you do I know what I'd do remember we talked about reason in common sense what's the reasonable thing to do get your child to a doctor get your child to a therapist get your child to something but what does she actually do the first set of text messages we hear the first text message February 18th so this
would be on or about the time of that first Hunger Strike first rude and second why are his hands free that's where we're starting why are his hands free um because he's a human being and what did he get into that he felt he needed to brush his teeth to hide it I think most parents would be ecstatic about their child actually brushing their teeth and know I am and my kids do it but to her him brushing his teeth is a sign that he's hiding something sorry didn't know he was up what do you
mean you didn't know he was up has he not been upstairs against the wall so he supposed to be against the wall no what why the heck not what the heck has been going on check the brownies in the kitchen check everything not locked away check where the flipping Keys have been this is in February we're not even talking about the last couple of weeks that Timothy's alive this is in February and she's already started talking about locking away food five months before Timothy dies and she's talking about restricting his access to food hunger strike
no she realized late last night that he was thin she threatened to take him to the ER if he didn't eat we know what she did to him the last night she wasn't remotely concerned about his physical appearance make no mistake she could see his physical appearance because she dragged him into the closet and detective Lieutenant hooka described to you in unfortunately Vivid detail and the images are horrifying truly horri which you've seen the photos of what he looked like when he died and that was hours before a mother dragging her child into a room
throwing him down on the ground does that sound like I realized last night he was ill and I threatened to take him to the ER if he didn't eat so I made him a piece of toast with butter on it she even admitted that was a lie said he was done after he ate the toast went downstairs he couldn't even move at that point you heard Dr D Young's testimony about what happens to the body as it breaks down as it goes through these stages of malnutrition was 69 pounds the average and he was average
height an average 15year old male is 132 PB he was 62 PB underweight and we saw what he was like three weeks before make no mistake she saw what he was like 3 weeks before she got ready for work in the morning and went to check on him no that's not true but it's interesting that she mentions getting ready for work because on that video you can hear and she's been working on Timothy for a number of minutes at this point in time and she says well I guess I'm going to be late for work
but we've got to get him responsive talk about cold I guess I'm going to be late for work your child is dead and all you can think about is being late for work she had to have Paul help him get off the bed lie on a hunger strike two weeks ago lie there would be there no pictures of Timothy since January that one's true and then when the detective starts to ask about the unusual things in the house that what like shackles what are these leg shackles for oh those are those are those are Paul's
leg shackles now be mind this is hours after this has taken place and it's just lie after lie after lie how do we know it's a lie May 18th the wise transaction is handcuffs and leg cuffs for Timothy from Amazon figured it would be okay to get those right away so we can talk about the sensors and stuff that's her text message the handcuffs and legcuffs for Timothy well I would never use them on Timothy June 27th he's moved around so he got the Cuffs in front of him instead of behind him so he's handcuffed
behind his back I put the Cuffs back behind him per I put the Cuffs back behind him I will have to deal with less than two hours of sleep today but not letting him get away with this be June 27th that's two weeks after the photograph goes to her showing how thin he is and he's handcuffed behind his back by her could this be anymore about her could this text message show you anym how this was all about her I will have to deal with less than two hours of sleep today but not letting him
get away with s SPF it's all about per I out to bed at 5:30 nope never happened never went to check on him the last thing you said to your child was you don't have to breathe with your mouth open dummy oh there's alarms on the room down there because we had the sewing stuff in there why the cameras in the home because Gabriel would strip down naked and wander around maybe a camera was in there for that but she doesn't care about wandering around naked you heard the text messages Timothy had to clean the
garage with with nothing on below his waist and then stand against the wall with nothing on below his waist he had to earn his right to get clothes back he doesn't care for kids are running around the house naked it's a form of punishment for her doesn't restrict his movement with shackles other now miss Vander AR was up here yesterday for quite some time and she told you about what intelligent lady she is and I will give her that credit she is a highly highly intelligent lady it takes a lot to finish second in your
class in law school graduate Magna Kum L it takes a lot to get a score of 182 and pass the bar exam heck it takes a lot to just pass the bar exam let alone get a score of 182 So This is highly intelligent woman we're dealing with she clerked for not one but two different judges was clerking for a judge at the time her child died yet she wants you to believe that she doesn't remember any of this can't remember any of these things I don't remember that text message I don't remember doing that
I don't remember saying that every time she's confronted with something that she did or something that she directed to be done to Timothy she can't remember how does this woman hold down a job as a legal clerk if your memory problems are that bad that you can't send these text messages how are you not seeing a therapist how are you not on medication to address these issues you couldn't hold down a job if you were that let alone a job as a legal clerk if you had that many memory problems let's let's talk about the
things that she can remember oh right after Mother's Day he weighed 104 pounds and I asked a couple times 108 pound no no no 104 PBS absolutely certain about that somehow she can remember three months before no I'm sorry two months before Timothy dies what he weighed that's a detail that she can remember the bad things no can't remember any of that that's the detail that she can remember how self- serving is that that you can only remember the good things and you can't remember the bad things and three weeks later that's how he looks
does that look like 104 pounds sure doesn't look like it to me there isn't a single text message in here or in there the larger binder where she says what are we doing I don't understand why we're doing these things how are why are these things happening why is why is Timothy on a camera why is Timothy in handcuffs why is Timothy locked away in a small room if she has all these memory issues where are those text messages where are the memory issues in here she knows everything that she wants to have done and
she's telling Paul day after day after day what to do to Timothy not struggling to remember what it is not struggling to remember what it is that Timothy had done to be punished in this way not struggling with any of that she doesn't have memory problems she might have chosen at this point to block those things out from her memory but make no mistake all of these things happened she did all of these things it's only now and suddenly she has memory issues so stressed out so much stuff going on not so much stuff going
on that you can't spend half of your time at work especially in those last couple of days just watching the camera watching while Timothy Timothy's in the bathtub for hours on end the day before he dies telling Paul to pour more cold water on it telling Paul to take a pizza roll take a pizza roll warm it up hold it in front of his face and see if he reacts but be ready to snatch it away if he tries to eat it this is supposedly when he's on a hunger strip and you're going to bait
him with food she did all of these horrible horrible things and she doesn't get to hide behind saying I just don't remember doing them or I didn't intend for Timothy to come to any harm of course she intended for Timothy to come to H of course she did ladies and gentlemen no rational person no person who can score 182 on the bar exam let alone any other individual no parent nobody with the logic and reasoning skills that she has could not understand the consequences of what she was doing I didn't intend for any of this
to happen we don't even know if that's true it's not but we we couldn't even say that that was true anyway she can barely even say that because by her account she doesn't remember doing any of these things for all we know she did intend for all of these things to happen which of course she did and remember we talked about the cookbook in varder went over it a couple of times unless you hear a defense from the judge in these instructions that says if you find that the defendant just doesn't remember these things that
she can be found not guilty she doesn't get the benefit of that don't add to the cookbook don't give her a defense that I just don't remember doing these things I hope on some level maybe she doesn't remember these things because they are so cold they are so lowly they are so dangerous that they took Timothy's life sleep de no clothes hot sauce you heard the description of the hot sauce today oh no that was that was Paul's idea the hot sauce was Paul's idea Paul's text to her July 2nd three days before Timothy dies
so apparently this hot sauce isn't just Carolina Reaper it's also Trinidad Scorpion Chili Pepper her response yep she knew what it was she went out of her way whether it was her or whether it was Paul at her direction or the two of them doing it together out of her way to find a hot sauce that would be too much for him to take let's set aside the logic for just a moment that how is it that you decide you're going to punish a child with hot sauce if the child likes hot sauce it's ridiculous
that that's the form of punishment of course not that doesn't make any sense again common sense don't check it at the door he didn't like hot sauce you know he didn't like hot sauce because they wouldn't be using it for a punishment if he liked it this is July second this is weeks after this photograph is taken and sent to her when she can see how thin he is hot sauce hot sauce on bread four slices with hot sauce four slices as long as there's plenty of hot sauce on it then if he waits 30
minutes he can have some without hot sauce so his reward for eating four slices of bread with hot sauce on it is if he can wait 30 minutes he can have four regular pieces of bread 30 seconds after she sends that text she talks about getting chicken nuggets and fries for G she can process all this in her head punishment hot sauce Timothy fries chicken nuggets forg that doesn't sound like somebody who doesn't know what they're doing that doesn't sound like somebody who has memory issues that doesn't sound like somebody who's not in control of
their actions she's in control of everything she is watching everything she knows everything even when Paul is supposed to be watching she's watching as well and critiquing how well Paul is doing watching he's with Timothy at the tub and she's watching to make sure that Timothy doesn't look too comfortable in the tub move his head looks like he's trying to get comfortable pour some cold water on him do the pizza roll thing somehow is an act of grace mercy whatever you want to call it go ahead and give them two pizza rolls and I don't
care if they're frozen it's difficult to understand how a person can be so detached to another person let alone a child ladies and gentlemen it's the people's position in this case that the defendant is guilty of two crimes that first crime his first degree child abuse in order to prove the crime of first-degree child abuse I do have to prove the following first that sha deand Arc is the parent of Timothy Ferguson that goes obviously without question second that the defendant either knowingly or intentionally caused serious harm and or serious mental harm to Timothy Ferguson
by serious physical harm I mean any physical injury to a child that serious L impairs the child's health or physical well-being including but not limited to brain damage skull bone fracture subdural Homa subdural Hemorrhage dislocation sprain ankle internal injury poisoning burn scalded or severe cut she killed him she starved him to death she directed that he'd be in an ice bath for hours at a time what was the story yesterday about the ice bath well they they didn't start off as as ice bats okay so they started off with cold water no they started off
with with hot water well why would you put ice cubes in a hot bath and how is that a punishment then confronted with the text again don't remember let him know that if he tries to sleep at all sleep deprivation he'll get another ice bath there's been one before sometime before you leave for work and another when I get home that's the description about three ice bats in one text message I said you wouldn't you wouldn't make up additional ice and put it in the freezer would you because you needed it for later no no
we wouldn't do that might want to toss the ice that is made into some Ziploc bags in the freezer tomorrow or if we need a bunch more you heard Dr D Young's testimony Timothy had signs of hypothermia how does a 15-year-old in Michigan in July get hypothermia by sitting in an ice bath for hours upon hours upon hours at a time and that's what Timothy went through on the last day of his life tortured with a pizza roll that he could eat cold water repeatedly dumped on him repositioned if he started to feel comfortable and
she's watching everything she's directing everything serious mental harm I mean any injury to a child's mental condition that results in visible sign of an impairment of the child's judgment Behavior ability to recognize reality or ability to cope with the ordinary demands of life that's a no-brainer the level of mental harm inflicted on Timothy is difficult to grasp how a 15-year-old already with special needs sensory uh the sensory issue that she described she's punishing him with hot sauce she's punishing him with ice baths she's punishing him with alarms that make noise that affects his ears she's
depriving him of sleep she's depriving him of movement she's depriving him of clothes she's locking him in a closet if that's not serious mental harm then I don't know what is and again these are all at her Direction and don't let her off the hook ladies and Gentlemen Just because she stood up here and said yesterday I didn't intend for these things to happen of course you intended for these things to happen of course you intended for these things that happen she's guilty of first-degree child abuse it's also the people's position that she's guilty of
first-degree felony murder if you find that she's guilty of that first degree child abuse you turn to the analysis of the of the murder charge here and in order to prove first deegree murder two sheets at once first that the defendant caused the death of Timothy Ferguson that is Timothy Ferguson died as a result of starvation and or physical abuse physical neglect and abuse you heard Dr D Young's testimony about the cause of death for Timothy here and all you needed to do was look at the photograph to see how he died and again I
wish I could have spared everybody from seeing those photog s but I can't because I have to prove and this is why I have to prove how he died the defendant has one of these three states of mind she intended to kill she intended to do great bodily harm to Timothy Ferguson or she knowingly created a very high risk of death or great bodily harm knowing that death or such harm would be the likely result of her actions let's talk about that first one for a moment she intended to kill I wish I could stand
up here and tell you that I think she actually did didn't have the intent to kill I wish I could do that because the notion that you could starve a child to death intentionally over months and months which is what it would take I wish he didn't have that intent I wish I didn't believe that she had that intent and it's for you to decide whether or not she had that intent but her actions sure show that she had that intent if she wanted to kill Timothy I wish she had done it a lot faster
than what she did because what he would have had to have gone through in those last few days or few weeks is Unthinkable but she had that intent to give him at a minimum she had an intent to do him great bodily harm and you can find either one and even if you had struggled with finding that she knowingly created a very high risk of death or great bodily harm knowing that death or such harm would be the likely result of his actions she she made a situation so dangerous so obviously dangerous to anyone especially
someone of her intelligence level that death or great bodily harm was the likely result well death was the result death was the result because of what she did to him because of the things that she directed to be done to him on the stand yesterday she tried to say well some of this was Paul's idea Paul did this and Paul did that and Paul did this and Paul did that if you need to feel free to review these text messages if you want you can review the bigger binder of text messages because these are all
about Timothy as well and when I say they're about Timothy they're not about Timothy you know all the good things that he's done and all the good things we're going to do it's all about the punishments this is a small window this is a larger window into the life to the hell that Timothy's life was so the the last 6 months every step of the way her directing her telling her ordering her threatening Paul to do the things this was not on Paul I told you an opening that you may not like Paul Ferguson and
I do believe that he is also in part responsible for Timothy's death here but you had an opportunity to see Paul testify here did they did that look like The Mastermind behind this or did that look like a as he put it somebody who was just desperate for attention desperate for the love of his mother and doing the things that she wanted him to do that's for you to decide but I submit to you ladies and gentlemen that's what it was that Paul was doing what she told him to do because he knew what was
going to happen to him if he didn't do those things quite simply ladies and gentlemen as as I've said this is a case of first-degree felony murder the underlying felony being first-degree child abuse that's the other element that you need to find happened here that she committed that first that felony first-degree child abuse and if you find those two things if you find that she committed the first-degree child abuse and that she had one of those three states of mind and it doesn't matter which one you decide but if she had any one of those
three states of mind is it related to Timothy and she's guilty of first-degree felony murder and she's guilty of first-degree child AB ladies and gentlemen Timothy Ferguson to the defendant had ceased to be a person Timothy Ferguson had become less than the animals that she trains you heard her say it would never occur to her her to do the things that she did to Timothy to the animals that she trains to the dogs that she trains he was less than a dog to her and this was a fight that he was not going to win
don't take my word for it of course I had it that July 29th and even if he sits up right before you get there as you get there I honestly don't care if you get a little rough with him July 29th again trust me I know he's thin that being said he told me a week and a half ago that he wanted to be thin to make me feel bad for punishing him this is supposedly when he's on his hunger strike you don't get to Grump at him for that though I already L into him
for it cleaning up the rooms directing fall to make sure that he cleans up the rooms and please check the carpet to see if it needs to if it needs to clean that too there's some different awesome cleaner for the carpet that he can use if he needs to he will need to use a different green and yellow sponge for that I do not want him using my nice sponges for either of those July 1st after the photograph that she's got m might be best if you give him like four pieces of bread to eat
before he starts work just to make sure he stands up while he eats them please that way he has no excuses July 1st the camera in his room needs to be picked up please U lots of hot sauce for that what do I do if he doesn't finish within the assigned time hot sauce these are all after that photograph so apparently this hot sauce isn't just Carolina Reaper it's the Trinidad Scorpion Chili Pepper y w he's on a hunger strike on July 5th the day before he dies forgot to tell you this before I left
Timothy was doing his fake stumbling and falling last night of course so I decided decided to prove once again how fake it is I asked him if he would stop doing that if he would eat a whole pizza by himself and he said yes of course and then I told him how obvious it was that he was being fake and he had just proven that yet again and of course he just looked down and didn't respond can't say it any more blunt than she does she was not going to let Timothy win plain and simple
if that many died and many died he dies she kicks into survival mode and starts to lie to the police that alone evidences a guilty State of Mind ladies and gentlemen but you don't need that you don't need much more than these text messages to prove that sha devander art is responsible because she intended to kill because she intended to do great bodily harm or she at least created situation so dangerous that death great bodily harm was a result to her child Timothy Ferguson and I will ask you to return a verdict of guilty the
first degree found any murder first degree CH thank you Roberts
