Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson was convicted Tuesday of second-degree murder for shooting his wife at their Anaheim Hills home following an hours-long argument.
A previous jury deadlocked on the charge against the 74-year-old Ferguson, prompting a retrial. Jurors in the retrial began deliberating at about 2:45 p.m. Monday, and reached their verdict Tuesday afternoon, convicting the judge of killing 65-year-old Sheryl Ferguson on Aug. 3, 2023.
Jurors also found true a sentence-enhancing gun allegation, opening Ferguson to a possible prison term of 40 years to life. Sentencing was scheduled for June 13. Ferguson was taken into custody after the verdict was read and ordered to remain jailed without bail.
Ferguson claimed the shooting was accidental, insisting the gun discharged when he fumbled it while trying to set the weapon on a coffee table. He said his shoulder, which is missing three of four tendons, gave out while he was handling the weapon and it discharged.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt called the judge’s story “ludicrous,” noting that the Glock handgun that Ferguson carried in an ankle holster required 5 pounds of pressure on the trigger to discharge, and was specifically designed not to fire when dropped.
Hunt also noted that Ferguson never mentioned his injured shoulder or an accidental discharge to police the night of the shooting.
The judge, who conceded having an alcohol problem, was drinking throughout the day and began argument with his wife when he got home. Sheryl Ferguson became angry when she realized the judge’s son from a previous marriage, Kevin, had not sent a thank you note as promised for money the couple gave him for childcare for his daughter.
Her anger was exacerbated by the knowledge that Ferguson was not Kevin’s biological father — a fact that only emerged during the retrial.
The argument continued when the couple went out to dinner with their son Phillip. The argument escalated when the judge pointed at his wife with a gun-like gesture, prompting her to angrily walk out of the restaurant. She eventually returned, but the argument continued when the family returned home.
Prosecutors said that at one point during the argument, Sheryl Ferguson said something to extent of “Why don’t you point a real gun at me?”
That prompted the judge to remove his Glock from his ankle holster and shoot her, prosecutors said.
The judge disputed that theory, saying he thought his wife said “get that gun away from me,” and he was trying to comply by removing it from the holster and setting it on a coffee table, but he fumbled it, causing it to discharge.
Defense attorney Cameron Talley argued that forensic evidence backed the judge’s version of events. Talley argued that the bullet wound from the single gunshot indicated the angle of the weapon was pointing upward, which would be consistent with Ferguson’s account of the accidental shooting. He also argued that the location the bullet cartridge landed also proves the point, since it would have been ejected further away instead of at the base of the coffee table if it had been fired directly at the victim, as the prosecution theorized.
“It landed where it landed if he’s telling the truth,” Talley said.
Talley noted that the judge posted a photo of his wife on his Facebook page before the shooting. And the two had made plans to buy a home in Texas to be closer to their son, who was attending his final semester at Southern Methodist University. He also advised his wife to buy some lottery tickets that morning.
Ferguson sent a note to his courtroom bailiff and clerk outside the house after the shooting, saying, “I just lost it. I just shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry.”
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