Jury deliberations continue in trial of Orange County judge accused of murdering wife

Jury deliberations continued Thursday in the murder trial of an Orange County judge who fatally shot his wife in 2023, a killing he claims was accidental while prosecutors allege it was a case of premeditated murder. 

Jeffrey Ferguson was arrested on Aug. 3, 2023 after his son reported 65-year-old Sheryl Ferguson had been shot at the family's Anaheim Hills home. The deadly shooting followed an argument the couple had earlier that evening, tensions surfacing over the couple's continued financial support of Ferguson's son from an earlier marriage. He testified about that disagreement as he took the stand Monday, telling jurors his wife had been frustrated with what she perceived as a lack of gratitude from his son, Kevin.

The defense said Ferguson was trying to make peace with his wife when he fumbled the gun after she asked him to put it away, and it accidentally misfired. But prosecutors allege he opened fire intentionally and in a fit of anger after having several alcoholic drinks that night over dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, where the argument had continued. 

Ferguson, 74, worked as a prosecutor in the O.C. District Attorney's Office for more than three decades before serving as an Orange County Superior Court Judge beginning in 2015. He was out on bail as the trial started last week.

He has been charged with murder with special allegations with sentencing enhancements for discharge of a firearm causing death and personal use of a firearm. Jury deliberations began Wednesday and extended into Thursday.

Just before his arrest, the night of the deadly shooting, Ferguson had texted his court clerk and bailiff: "I just lost it. I just shot my wife. I won't be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I'm so sorry." 

Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt called that text a "confession."

"He describes what he just did," Hunt said. "We all know what this means. He lost his temper and shot his wife."    

"You have been presented with evidence -- credible evidence -- he took out the gun, he was angry," the prosecutor said during closing arguments Wednesday. "He took the gun out, pointed at her and killed her."  

But Ferguson told the court it was the result of an accidental misfire, saying he reached for the gun from his ankle holster when his wife told him to put the gun away -- doing so while struggling with a shoulder injury. Defense attorney Cameron Talley told jurors he felt incredible guilt, telling detectives he deserved the death penalty and he had not purposefully opened fire.

"He said, 'I didn't mean to kill her,'" Talley told jurors. "That's what the evidence will prove in this case."

Hunt called Ferguson's claim that he fatally shot his wife on accident "ridiculous," refuting his defense that his shoulder injury led to him fumbling the gun. He told jurors that Ferguson showed full functional use of his arm when he later faced questioning by police. 

Meanwhile, Talley argued that physical evidence, including the angle of the bullet wound to Sheryl Ferguson and home surveillance video showing there was no muzzle flash, are consistent with the defense of an accidental misfire. And while the had couple argued earlier that night, Talley said Ferguson had been trying to make peace with his wife.

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

Ferguson testified his wife was upset over what she perceived as a lack of gratitude from his son, Kevin, and his unwillingness to develop a relationship with the couple's son, Phillip. 

"What annoyed her was he didn't express his appreciation or gratitude," Ferguson testified Monday. "Sheryl had hopes that Kevin and Phillip would have a stronger family bond... but Kevin never sent birthday cards to Phillip, or her or me... but he would ask us to send cards to his wife."

The night of the shooting, the conflict had intensified over the fact that Ferguson sent his son Kevin $2,000 and never received a promised thank you card in return -- something Sheryl Ferguson had expressed disappointment with, Ferguson said. They continued arguing during dinner later at a Mexican restaurant with their son, Phillip, who reported the shooting later that night.

According to Ferguson's testimony, his wife walked out of the restaurant for about 10 minutes after he made a hand gesture. In court filings, prosecutors have alleged that gesture was "indicative of pointing a gun at" her while Ferguson testified during the trial that he had made that same gesture in the past to basically say, "Okay, you win." 

Sheryl Ferguson was fatally shot when the family was back home later that night. But how it happened is where the defense and prosecution disagree. Prosecutors say the victim had said something along the lines of "Why don't you point a real gun at me?" before Ferguson shot her. Meanwhile, he claims she had asked him to put the gun away. 

"I wanted to defuse it, so I said, 'Okay I'll get rid of it,'" he said.

He said he tried pulling the gun out of his ankle holster to put it on a cluttered coffee table but struggled to bend down as he weighed 285 pounds at the time. When he attempted to place the firearm down, in front of some books, he was extending his arm forward but the movement was difficult due to an injury in which he lost three of the four tendons in his shoulder, he said. 

"I reached out to send the gun down. ... I could not reach the table with my elbow bent... My arm failed," Ferguson testified. "I got a shooting pain and I reflexively grabbed it. I didn't want it to hit the floor. My finger must have hit the trigger."

The prosecution argued during the trial that Ferguson, once a longtime prosecutor and judge himself, has a unique advantage in how he has been able to retell the story of what happened that night.

"That puts him in a unique position as a defendant -- he knows how to answer certain questions, and how to evade others," Hunt said.