Man Gets 8 Years for Deaths of 2 Cyclists : Family Asks for Stiff Term for Drunk Driver

A Fullerton man who had been convicted twice for drunk driving was sentenced on Friday to eight years in state prison for killing two people while driving drunk.

John A. Ferguson, 53, a restaurant owner, sat with his eyes downcast as he listened to the victims’ families appeal to the judge for a maximum sentence. He had pleaded guilty to two charges of gross vehicular manslaughter for the October, 1990, deaths of Gary Bristol, 45, and Donna Voccio, 29, both of Riverside County.

Bristol’s widow, Robin, 29, told Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan that her three young children still ask for their father. Ferguson “has destroyed our lives, and the pain he has caused . . . will never go away,” she said.

Ryan, who noted that Ferguson has shown remorse for his crime and has been participating in an alcohol rehabilitation program, sentenced Ferguson to eight years instead of the maximum 12 years. He also ordered Ferguson to pay almost $30,000 in restitution to the victims’ families.

“He is remorseful--I don’t think there’s any guess about that,” the judge said. “But because of his long history of drinking and his inability to drive safely . . . he is considered a danger to others.”

Ferguson, who was also sentenced to an additional six months for driving with a revoked license, will be eligible for parole in less than four years. Family members of the victims said they were disappointed with the sentence.

“I wasn’t expecting a lot, but I wasn’t expecting this little,” said Voccio’s sister, Dee Schoeller, 36, of Riverside. “He’ll do his time and then this will be over for him, but it will never be over for us.”

The accident occurred in Buena Park just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 23, 1990. Voccio and Bristol were on Bristol’s motorcycle, heading north on Knott Avenue. Ferguson was in his pickup truck on Melrose Street when he sideswiped the motorcycle as he turned into the intersection. Voccio and Bristol were thrown from the motorcycle and died several hours later.

According to court documents, Ferguson told a witness that he was driving on a suspended license and asked if she would tell authorities that she had been driving his truck. When the witness refused, Ferguson told her he would lie to police and tell them she was the driver, court records stated.

A test later showed that Ferguson had a blood-alcohol level of 0.19%, more than double the legal intoxication limit.

A probation report on Ferguson, written to help the judge decide on a sentence, paints a picture of a man with a long history of alcohol abuse. According to the report, he has been married four times, and one of his ex-wives told authorities that she divorced him because of his alcohol problem.

The report also stated that Ferguson admitted to being an alcoholic for years, and that he was an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous. The report said that Ferguson was convicted in 1972 and in 1989 for driving under the influence.

Ferguson told a probation officer that his son died in 1989 while driving drunk and since that time, he had quit drinking. That status lasted, he said, until the day of the accident, when he had at least 12 beers at two different bars.

“This defendant has been out of control for at least 20 years,” Ferguson’s probation report said. “Even the death of his own son who was intoxicated has had no effect on his drinking habits.”

Ferguson’s attorney, Lloyd L. Freeberg, said his client was a victim of the country’s preoccupation with the glamour of alcohol as portrayed in advertisements.

Alcoholism “is a real problem for our country, and when a problem like this occurs, society wants to jump on John,” Freeberg told the court as he asked for a more lenient sentence for Ferguson.

“I can’t make excuses for John, and he’s not trying to make excuses either. . . . But, if we took the alcohol from his life, John is an exemplary person.”