Dorchester man acquitted of murder

By Globe Staff

A 35-year-old Dorchester man has been acquitted of murdering another man in August 2005 as revenge for a shooting that happened 13 years before.

Ernest Ferguson was charged with gunning down Bryan Whitsey of Brockton, a 37-year-old father of five, on Stanwood Street in Dorchester on Aug. 5, 2005. Prosecutors alleged that Ferguson believed Whitsey had been involved in a 1992 shooting that injured Ferguson.

Ferguson had left the Boston area after Whitsey's slaying and was later arrested in Baltimore, where he was living under an assumed name, prosecutors said.

Ferguson was acquitted today after a six-day jury trial in Suffolk Superior Court. His attorney, George E. Murphy of Cambridge, said his client was happy with the verdict.

Murphy said Ferguson was acquitted because the jury doubted the credibility of a key eyewitness.

"There was only one identification witness, and I don't think the jury believed him," he said.

Asked what was in the future for Ferguson, Murphy said, "From talking to his family, I think he's going to move out of the area."

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