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A veteran Orange County judge who killed his wife at his Anaheim Hills home during a debate two years ago was convicted of twice-degree murder on Tuesday.
Jeffrey Ferguson, now 74, was drinking hard on August 3, 2023. He pumped one bullet that was sitting a few feet away through his wife, 65-year-old Sheryl Ferguson. They were in the family room where their son was watching “Breaking Bad” and was quarreling money.
Shortly after the incident, Ferguson told court staff, “I just lost it.” In the police interview room, cameras said, “My pension is gone” and “I killed her.”
However, at trial, Ferguson and his lawyers argued that the shooting was an accident. He says he was trying to put the gun on the coffee table when the shoulder came out, groping for the gun and accidentally pulling the trigger, fatally hurting his 27-year-old wife.
“I wasn’t mad,” he testified.
Ferguson, who headed the courtroom in Fullerton before his arrest, was free on $2 million bail and had sal withdrawn over $220,000 in annual salary during legal proceedings, but did not hear the lawsuit. He was taken into custody after the verdict.
The first trial in the shooting of Ferguson’s wife ended with a deadlock last month. It took the ju judge at the second trial only one day to reach his conviction.
Orange County Deputy District in his final discussion at his second trial Monday. Atty. Seton Hunt told the ju umpire that this is not a complicated case.
“The husband and wife don’t get along well,” he said. “They are screaming. It gets worse when my husband drinks.”
During his testimony, Ferguson admitted that he was an alcoholic and had been drinking that day. Prosecutors experts said Ferguson’s blood alcohol level was about twice the legal driving restrictions at the time of the shooting.
As evidence of the strength of the debate that night, prosecutors pointed to comments from the couple’s 22-year-old son, Philip, who was at home from university that summer and witnessed the shooting. Philip said he reached for the historic sword on the replica as his parents’ altercation became more heated as he was worried.
The son told police that his father pointed the gun at his mother with his hand, and that his mother said, “Why don’t you point the real gun at me?” At that point, the son said, he saw his father filming her with Glock.
“I worked on him,” Philip told police. “I made sure he let go of the gun before he could wake up.”
Defence counsel Cameron Tully told ju umpire that the location of the used cartridge on the gun was found at the foot of the sofa where his client was sitting, and more consistent with Ferguson’s story than the intentional shooting. “Yes, he killed her,” he said. “I don’t mean it was intentional.”
Talley shook his claim that he saw his father fire a gun, and highlighted the contradiction in his son’s account, saying that he only grabbed the replica sword after the shooting.
“A lot of what Philip says doesn’t matter,” Tully said. “He’s everywhere.”
Prosecutor Hunt said his son was “evidently… not completely close.” He gave a shaky explanation, “I saw my mother murdered right in front of him,” but still loved the murderer, in a light-shape of Philippe.
“The fact that Philip will forgive him.” [and] I love his father…it’s not defense,” Hunt said.
Both trials made clear that the argument was about money. In certain cases, the claim is that he will send money to his grown son Kevin over his wife’s objection.
However, this time the testimony suggested a thorny layer of argument. Philip said a few years ago that his family learned that his brother wasn’t Ferguson’s biological child. He said his mother replied to his brother.
Talley described his client as the man who maintained his commitment. “He continued to support Kevin when he came out when he wasn’t a biological son.”
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Eleanor Hunter presided over the case after an Orange County judge rejected himself, setting a June 13th decision date.
Ferguson’s conviction includes strengthening firearms, and he has faced 40 years of life in prison. Under the state constitution, if the conviction is final, a judge convicted of a felony will be automatically suspended and removed.
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