Middletown woman pleads guilty to assault with 'monkey fist' in Wallkill hotel room

A Middletown woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to assaulting a woman in a Wallkill hotel room last year.

Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said Justina Ferguson, 46, of Middletown, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, a felony, before County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown.

An Orange County grand jury had indicted Ferguson on accusations of assaulting her former boyfriend and a woman who was sleeping in the room.

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Ferguson, who was accompanied by others at the time, tricked hotel staff into giving her room information and a key to the room where her former boyfriend was staying, Hoovler said, around 1 a.m. on Aug. 15, 2020, Hoovler said.

At the time she pleaded guilty, Ferguson admitted entering her former boyfriend's room and assaulting the woman with a weapon consisting of a knotted rope containing a weight. The weapon, commonly called a "monkey fist," Hoovler said, is designed to be used as a flail.

The sleeping woman suffered a serious head wound as a result of the attack. One of the individuals who accompanied Ferguson to the room recorded the attack.

"We may never know exactly what the defendant planned on doing with the recording of this heinous assault, but recording victims as they are assaulted, whether to keep as trophies or to share with others, significantly revictimizes those who are entitled to our sympathy and support," Hoovler said it a statement.

Ferguson is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 17, 2022. She faces up to seven years in state prison and three years of post-release supervision.