MUSKEGON, Mich. (Court TV) — A woman convicted of torturing and killing her teenage son will head to court for a second day in a row in her bid for a new trial.
Shanda Vander Ark appears in court for a post-conviction hearing on Nov. 25, 2025. (Court TV)
Shanda Vander Ark was convicted of murdering her son, 15-year-old Timothy Ferguson, who weighed only 69 pounds when he died. Vander Ark was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus an additional 50-100 years after evidence showed her son was handcuffed, forced to sleep in a closet, starved and left in ice baths for hours at a time.
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Before Tuesday’s hearing could officially begin, Vander Ark’s attorney said his client hadn’t been feeling well and requested an adjournment due to a “pounding headache.” Vander Ark’s appellate attorney, Ronald Ambrose, said he didn’t doubt his client’s competence, but said she wasn’t “at her best.”
Judge Matthew Kacel questioned whether Vander Ark was feigning her symptoms, noting that she had health concerns intermittently during her criminal trial, over which he had also presided. “It seemed to me, from the outside looking in, that these medical issues seemed to be at times of pretty significant testimony in the trial,” Judge Kacel said. “I don’t know how much credibility the court can lay on her statements.”
Tuesday’s hearing focused on questions about Vander Ark’s trial attorney. At a hearing this summer, Judge Kacel denied a motion for a new trial based on her competency, but found that “legitimate issues regarding defense strategy” had been raised, warranting an evidentiary hearing.
Vander Ark was not present when her trial attorney, Fred Johnson, delivered closing arguments; after experiencing a “significant downturn in her mental health,” the defendant left the courtroom and did not return, even for the reading of the verdict. When Johnson addressed the jury for closing arguments, he told them that Vander Ark “committed manslaughter. [Vander Ark] caused this boy’s death, but [she] didn’t intend to.”
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Ambrose said that Vander Ark has steadfastly maintained her innocence, and “never consented to that kind of argument, never consented to a lesser-included offense.” Johnson, testifying at the hearing, agreed that Vander Ark never gave him permission to make the statement in his closing arguments.
Johnson said his strategy at trial was to focus on premeditation, claiming that Vander Ark was unaware her son was in danger. He said he tried to get experts to testify on her behalf. “I believed then, and I believe now, that there’s something wrong with my client,” Johnson said. But every expert came back with the same opinion, which Johnson said would have supported a guilty conviction. Johnson said one doctor went so far as to call Vander Ark a ‘monster.’ “She’s the worst thing he’d ever seen,” Johnson said of the doctor, who had previously testified for mass murderers.
Judge Kacel briefly questioned Johnson to determine whether Vander Ark understood his legal strategy at each step of the trial. Johnson emphasized his former client’s education, noting she missed only one question on the bar exam and clerked for two judges.
Vander Ark briefly took the stand on Monday, telling the judge, “I feel like garbage,” and asking to return to testify another day. Prosecutors said they had three witnesses to present, so Judge Kacel said the hearing would continue at a future date, with Vander Ark returning to testify then.
