PITTSBURG — An Idaho man charged last year with raping a girl 22 years ago will not be getting out of jail anytime soon, after a failed attempt by his lawyer to disprove the case.
In a court hearing closed to the public, Judge John C. Cope slammed the door shut on a possible release for 50-year-old Eric Ferguson, court records show. Ferguson faces charges of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a teen girl as she walked her dog in Oakley in 2002, a case built on a DNA hit that came in last year.
A 33-page motion filed by Ferguson’s lawyer, Carlos Vega, attempted to prove the woman had “fabricated” the allegations of rape and that it was part of a “pattern” of other false accusations. The defense motion included a detailed account of the alleged victim’s sexual and relationship history, quoted people who called her “crazy” and used other personal insults.
The motion also claimed — falsely, according to prosecutors — that she’d previously dated Ferguson.
Cope said he would hold the hearing behind closed doors due to the sensitive privacy issues at play.
In a public court hearing before the closed session on Friday, Cope said he was skeptical, but would keep an open mind. He noted at a recent court hearing that judges must assume the charges to be true for the purposes of a bail hearing, and could only consider Ferguson’s potential dangerousness or risk of fleeing if released. But he added that it was theoretically possible to prove a defendant was not a danger to the community by demonstrating his innocence.
Instead, after hearing roughly an hour of witness testimony last week, Cope denied the defense motion, according to court records. Ferguson remains jailed in lieu of $5 million bail, and is awaiting trial. His next court date has been set for Oct. 30.
The woman reported to police in 2002 that she was walking her dog on a trail in Oakley when an armed assailant forced her into his vehicle and sexually assaulted her.
After the attack, she ran to a nearby home, sought police and medical treatment and underwent a rape test exam. Evidence taken from that day was entered into a DNA database, resulting in Ferguson’s arrest on kidnapping and rape charges last year.