Smith County woman sentenced to prison for husband’s murder

SMITH COUNTY — A Tyler woman was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Tuesday for the 2020 murder of her husband. According to our news partner KETK, Debbie Bryant, 57, confessed to shooting her husband, 58-year-old Allen Ferguson in early 2020. Authorities said that they received a call early in the morning from a woman saying her husband had been shot. Officers went to the residence at 617 Maxwell and found Ferguson with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition and died several days later. Bryant was initially charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after her confession, but when Ferguson died, her charge was upgraded to murder, according to judicial records. Her bond was increased to $500,000 from $250,000.