In Orange County judge's murder trial, "exhausted" jury to continue deliberations after a week

After seven days of jury deliberations, the fate of an Orange County judge charged with murdering his wife remained undecided Friday as jurors struggled to reach a verdict after hearing additional arguments in the case.

Jeffrey Ferguson, a 74-year-old former longtime prosecutor, testified that he fatally shot his wife, Sheryl Ferguson, 65, on accident at their Anaheim Hills home on the evening of Aug. 3, 2023, saying he fumbled the gun due to a shoulder injury and it accidentally misfired as he reached for it from his ankle holster and tried placing it onto a cluttered coffee table. He said he had a number of alcoholic drinks that night and the couple had argued while out to dinner at a restaurant earlier in the evening.

The couple's son reported the shooting, and the same night, Ferguson was arrested and later charged with murder. 

Jurors could convict Ferguson of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter or acquit him of all charges. 

While the defense has said the shooting was a tragic accident, the prosecution has maintained that Ferguson pointed the gun at his wife and shot and killed her in a drunken fit of anger — making him guilty of second-degree murder. In court filings, prosecutors have alleged he threatened Sheryl Ferguson earlier in the evening "by making a hand gesture indicative of pointing a gun at her."  

"You have been presented with evidence — credible evidence — he took out the gun, he was angry," Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt told jurors last week. "He took the gun out, pointed at her and killed her."  

The defense has argued he is not guilty of second-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter, saying he is not guilty of the lesser charge either since it requires a lawful act done in an illegal way which results in death due to criminal negligence. 

Defense attorney Cameron Talley said Ferguson is not guilty of criminal negligence since he was handling the gun in a safe way when it accidentally misfired. Talley said he was trying to make peace with his wife as she had asked him to put the gun away.

"He's not mad," Talley said. "Where's this drunken rage coming from?"  

After a week, jurors "exhausted" and unable to reach verdict 

On Wednesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor Hunter allowed the prosecution and defense to deliver additional closing arguments as the jury struggled to reach a verdict. Jurors reached an impasse Thursday, following another impasse earlier in deliberations, and they still could not reach a verdict by Friday afternoon. The jury gave the judge a note explaining the situation.

"We are exhausted. We have further movement. Is it possible we can leave at lunch and return on Monday?"

Talley had objected, arguing that jurors could be affected by outside sources over the weekend. But Hunter overruled his objection and said the jury could return to deliberations Monday.

When additional arguments were delivered Wednesday, the defense and prosecution argued over the circumstances of the deadly shooting and how they relate to the legal language of the charges at play.

Prosecutor argues "implied malice" to conflicted jury

Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt told jurors it was an implied malice case, arguing that means it is not legally required to prove that Ferguson had, in fact, intentionally killed his wife. Hunt argued that the act of pulling out the gun in the midst of an argument while intoxicated is enough to meet the legal requirement of implied malice, and thereby, second-degree murder.

"For implied malice murder, it's required he did an act that was inherently dangerous to human life and acted with conscious disregard for human life," Hunt said.

The prosecutor also told jurors that when Ferguson pulled the gun from his ankle holster and tried placing it on an empty part of the coffee table, he "couldn't be bothered to move some (TV) remotes" aside. Ferguson had testified his injured shoulder gave out when he was reaching over the table to try setting down the gun, causing him to fumble it as he tried to regain hold of it.

"He takes out this gun while intoxicated and can't be bothered to move some remotes aside," Hunt said. "That is inherently dangerous to human life... He is handling a gun and pointing it at another human being."

"He's a gun expert. He understands the dangers, so he had that conscious disregard," Hunt said.

Given the circumstances, the prosecution has maintained that Ferguson is guilty of second-degree murder. 

Defense argues no criminal negligence in shooting

But the defense refuted that argument. "The government got it wrong again," Talley told jurors, arguing the prosecution has to prove that the shooting was an intentional act that was dangerous to human life. The defense attorney also told jurors, as he had earlier in the trial, that Ferguson had not pointed the gun at his wife.

"He took the gun out of his holster and it's pointed at the ground," Talley said, saying Ferguson was holding the gun in a safe manner at the time and that it was "never pointed it at Sheryl Ferguson."

"He fumbled the gun," he said.

Ferguson's defense has maintained that he was struggling with a shoulder injury in which he was missing three out of four tendons in his shoulder, saying he felt a 'shooting pain' when he leaned over to put the gun down but lost control of it. 

"You have to show you don't care if somebody gets killed," Talley said of the burden on the prosecution, which he said was not met.

Prosecutors have countered that Talley did not address the fact that Ferguson was intoxicated at the time of the killing during the additional closing arguments. Senior Deputy DA Hunt called Ferguson's description of the shooting as an accident misfire that was partially to blame on a shoulder injury as "ridiculous" and referred to a text Ferguson sent the night of the shooting as a "confession."

"I just lost it. Just shot my wife. I won't be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I'm so sorry," Ferguson wrote in a text to his bailiff and clerk just minutes after the August 2023 shooting. 

When he charged with murder days later, his attorneys, Paul Meyer and John Barnett, released a statement saying the deadly shooting was a "tragedy" and "an accident and nothing more."