A Chatham County judge denied bond for a former Savannah Police officer, ruling that he posed a “significant risk of committing a felony” ahead of his murder trial for the June 2022 killing of a Carver Village man.
In one of his first major decisions since taking the bench, Superior Court Judge Christopher Middleton ruled against lawyers for former Savannah Police Department Officer Ernest Ferguson, who sought Ferguson’s release from jail.
Last September, a grand jury indicted the former officer on three counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment, and two counts of making a false statement.
Ferguson shot and killed Saudi Lee, 31, of Carver Village on June 24, 2022. The officer shot Lee four times in the back while he fled from police, according to prosecutors and body-worn camera footage. The killing inflamed tensions between city residents and police. The police chief at the time stepped down from his post early, less than a week after Lee’s killing. Questions later arose about Ferguson’s hiring by SPD and his violent past as a prison guard.
Ferguson has pleaded not guilty and has been incarcerated in the Chatham County Detention Center since late September. His lawyers, who said Ferguson acted in self-defense after Lee presented a handgun, did not respond to a request for comment.
“We respect the court’s decision and we cannot comment further as it’s an ongoing case,” Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones said in a statement.
On Monday, Middleton ruled that Ferguson posed “a significant risk” of committing a crime before trial in the murder case and cited Ferguson’s pattern of arrests after Savannah Police officials suspended and fired him.
After the shooting, Ferguson began to unravel. SPD fired him following an October 2022 driving under the influence arrest in Liberty County. In the months after, authorities arrested him in Florida and in two Georgia counties, Chatham and Muscogee counties, for various theft charges and a drug offense. He pleaded guilty to the Florida charges, but the Georgia cases remain open.
“Officer Ferguson suffered incredible trauma,” his attorney Robert Persse said at his first bond hearing last October. Persse detailed how Ferguson attended rehabilitation for former law enforcement officers and settled down in San Antonio, Texas.
“Given that mental health was stated as a possible contributing factor associated with the three (3) arrests subsequent to the June 24, 2022, incident, it is important to devote sufficient time to this area,” Middleton wrote, noting that his lawyers have offered no information of recent mental health treatment received by Ferguson.
“The Court has concerns regarding release without the completion of psychological evaluation and successful completion of counseling programs at the detention facility,” the judge said.
A trial date has not yet been set in the case.
Ferguson and the city of Savannah are being sued by Lee’s family, alleging civil rights violations and negligent hiring. Both parties denied the allegations and are seeking dismissal of the suit.
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