Former KU pharmacy student who was accused of rape is sentenced to probation for lesser crimes

photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Andrew Elliott Ferguson

A former KU pharmacy student who was accused of rape in 2019 was sentenced to probation Thursday in Douglas County District Court for lesser, nonsexual crimes.

Andrew Elliott Ferguson, 24, of Lawrence, was sentenced to 38 months in prison, or just over three years. Judge James McCabria suspended that sentence to two years of probation in accordance with Kansas sentencing guidelines. Ferguson pleaded no contest to two counts of attempted aggravated battery in August, just days before he was set to go to trial facing a rape charge.

As previously reported by the Journal-World, the rape charge relates to an incident at a holiday party on Dec. 13, 2019, when Ferguson was alleged to have raped the host of the party while she slept; another party-goer allegedly woke, saw the assault taking place and kicked Ferguson out of the house.

The woman testified at a preliminary hearing in December of 2020 that she had been drinking that night and didn’t remember exactly what happened but she did remember waking up to Ferguson on top of her, being afraid and freezing up, then passing back out.

Ferguson was originally charged with one felony count of rape, but after the preliminary hearing, the prosecution added an additional aggravated criminal sodomy charge, according to court records. Both the rape and sodomy charges are level-one felonies, which are the highest level of felony on the Kansas sentencing grid and come with a minimum sentence of more than 12 years in prison for someone with no criminal history. Ferguson was arrested on Dec. 14, 2019, and released on a $100,000 surety bond.

Ferguson’s defense attorney, Sarah Swain, said that Ferguson had spent a lot of time since his arrest getting psychological evaluations and counseling.

Despite that, Assistant District Attorney Christen Secrest said that the severity of Ferguson’s original charges should factor into his sentence.

McCabria, however, said that his constitutional duties required him to look at what Ferguson has been convicted of and not at what the state had originally charged. McCabria also said that sentencing guidelines instructed him to suspend Ferguson’s prison sentence to probation.

McCabria noted that the victim and her family were in the room and, though they declined to speak during the hearing, he thanked them for attending.

Ferguson also declined to speak during the hearing.

McCabria ordered Ferguson to pay all fees associated with the case, just over $800, and to get a sex offender evaluation as directed by his probation officer.

“Sir, I have given you the maximum sentence the law allows. I hope you do succeed on probation,” McCabria said.