Southern California judge found guilty of murdering his wife in 2023
A California jury convicted a judge of fatally shooting his wife following a drunken argument at their Anaheim Hills home in 2023, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors accused Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson of intentionally killing his wife, Sheryl Ferguson, 65, in their Anaheim, California, home in August 2023. During the trial, Jeffrey Ferguson admitted to shooting his wife but maintained that it was an accident.
Jurors rejected Jeffrey Ferguson's testimony that he accidentally shot his wife and convicted him of second-degree murder as well as a felony gun enhancement on April 22, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. He faces a maximum sentence of 40 years to life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13.
The verdict came after Jeffrey Ferguson's first trial ended in a deadlock in March after eight days of deliberations. The jury was divided 11 to 1 in favor of convicting Ferguson on the murder charges, but said they ultimately could not come to a consensus.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter, who presided over the case due to a conflict of interest with the Superior Court in Orange County, declared a mistrial, and the case was retried. Jurors at the second trial took only a day to reach a guilty verdict, The Los Angeles Times reported.
"We believed all along there was sufficient evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to prove this was a murder, but our criminal justice system does not rest on our belief," Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. "Justice rests in the hands of 12 strangers who were taken from their everyday lives and given the immense responsibility to weigh the evidence and determine guilt or innocence. We are grateful for the jury’s careful consideration of the facts."
Prosecutor: 'He pulled the trigger and destroyed everything'
Prosecutors said Ferguson, then 72, had been heavily drinking when he "simulated pointing a gun at his wife of 27 years" with his fingers during an argument about money at dinner with his wife and son at a Mexican restaurant on Aug. 3, 2023.
The argument continued at their home in Anaheim Hills, an affluent residential area in east Anaheim, while the family was sitting in the living room watching television, according to prosecutors. During the argument, prosecutors said Sheryl Ferguson chastised her husband and told him: "Why don’t you point a real gun at me?"
Ferguson proceeded to shoot his wife and was then tackled by the couple's 22-year-old son, who tried to "wrestle the gun away" from his father, prosecutors said. The couple's son called 911 shortly after 8 p.m. local time to report the incident and remained inside the home to perform CPR on his mother, according to prosecutors.
Meanwhile, Ferguson stepped outside of the home and texted his court bailiff and clerk, 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," prosecutors said.
Ferguson was arrested that same night, and police later recovered 48 weapons — including rifles, shotguns, and handguns, and over 26,000 rounds of ammunition — from his home, according to prosecutors.
"The second he pulled the trigger and killed his wife, Judge Jeffrey Ferguson knew he was just like the violent criminals he has sent to prison and left his son to desperately try to pump the life into his dying mother’s body while he went outside to text his friends," Spitzer said.
"This was not an accident. Ferguson was trained to never point a gun at anything he didn’t intend to destroy," Spitzer added. "On August 3, 2023, he took his gun out of his ankle holster and pointed it at exactly what he wanted to destroy – his wife of 27 years – and then he pulled the trigger and destroyed everything."
Jeffrey Ferguson has been out on $2 million bail
Ferguson had served as a judge for Orange County Superior Court since 2015. Before becoming a judge, he served as a prosecutor in the Orange County District Attorney's Office, beginning in 1983.
Immediately following the August 2023 shooting, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said it contacted the California Attorney General’s Office to request a conflict check. The state attorney general’s office subsequently declared that the district attorney’s office did not have a conflict and could prosecute the case.
Ferguson was released from custody by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department on Aug. 4, 2023, after posting a $1 million bail, according to the district attorney’s office.
That bail was then revoked, and he was taken back into custody in September 2024 after his court-ordered alcohol monitor reported that he had consumed alcohol in violation of the terms of his release, the district attorney’s office said. A judge also determined that Ferguson had lied about his unlawful consumption of alcohol.
Ferguson was later released after posting a $2 million bond. He was taken into custody following the jury's verdict on April 22, according to the Times.
Contributing: Karissa Waddick, Paste BN
(This article was updated to include video.)