Daughter speaks after father sentenced 37 years for teenage son’s deadly crash
By Gail Paschall-Brown, LeeAnn Huntoon
Click here for updates on this story
OSCEOLA COUNTY, Florida (WESH) — Richard Ferguson, 69, was sentenced to 37 years in prison for manslaughter after his unlicensed teenage son caused a crash in 2023 that killed three children and their grandmother in Osceola County.
Diamond Ferguson, the youngest of Richard Ferguson’s eight children, expressed her dissatisfaction with the verdict.
“My dad wasn’t given a fair chance to even try to win. In my opinion, this case was not on facts, it was on emotion,” she said.
She further commented on the severity of the sentence, saying, “This was not fair, to give him 37 years is ultimately life, there’s no going around that. Unfortunately, if things do not work how they’re supposed to, the next time my dad leaves that place will be… in a casket for a crime he did not do.”
Sabrina Hernandez, who lost her three children and her mother in the crash, shared her grief.
“There is absolutely no human experience that replicates the pain of losing a child, a loss she said she endured three times over,” Hernandez said.
Before his sentencing, Richard Ferguson spoke in court, expressing his remorse. “I have profound sorry. Not only it shattered lives, it shattered families,” he said.
Diamond Ferguson acknowledged the family’s inability to fully apologize for the tragedy.
“We could never begin to apologize, and nothing we say can ever truly heal her,” she said.
“He’s not only battling Stage 4 Cancer, high blood pressure, and bone deterioration,” she said. “We are in the process of appealing because this was not right. This was not fair.”
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.