SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California judge pulled a loaded gun from his ankle holster and fatally shot his wife during an argument while the couple was watching television, a prosecutor told jurors as the judge’s trial got underway Wednesday.
Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson had been drinking on Aug. 3, 2023, when he argued with his wife, Sheryl, during dinner at a local restaurant and later while watching “Breaking Bad” at home with their adult son, prosecutor Seton Hunt said.
At one point in the evening, Ferguson made a gun hand gesture toward his wife, and she later chided him to point a real gun at her, Hunt said.
Ferguson proceeded to point a gun and pulled the trigger, Hunt said. He was later taken into custody by police and, in comments captured on a video recording, pleaded for a jury to convict him.
“I killed her,” Ferguson is heard saying on the recording. “I did it.”
Ferguson, 74, has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyer contends the shooting was an accident.
Wednesday’s statements came at the beginning of Ferguson’s trial on a murder charge in the shooting death of his wife in a case that has roiled the legal community in Orange County. To avoid a conflict of interest, a Los Angeles County judge is presiding over the case before jurors in the Orange County city of Santa Ana — not far from where Ferguson previously heard cases in his courtroom.
Ferguson sat in court as a defendant and wore a gray suit jacket and glasses. His lawyer, Cameron J. Talley, reserved his opening statement for later in the trial, but previously said the shooting was accidental, not murder.
Ferguson and his adult son called 911, and Ferguson texted his court clerk and bailiff 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,” according to prosecutors’ court filings. Authorities said they later found 47 weapons, including the gun, and more than 26,000 rounds of ammunition at his home.
After the shooting, Ferguson was arrested and initially released on $1 million bail. He was taken back into custody last year after Judge Eleanor J. Hunter contended that he had lied about drinking alcohol while out on bond, which would violate the terms of his release. Ferguson got out of jail again in October — this time on $2 million bail.
Ferguson is an elected judge in Orange County, but he is not currently hearing cases and his name is no longer listed on the superior court’s website. Under the state’s constitution, a judge who faces a felony charge can continue to draw a salary but can’t hear cases.
Ferguson has been a judge for a decade. He began his legal career in the Orange County district attorney’s office in 1983 and went on to work narcotics cases, for which he won various awards, and served as president of the North Orange County Bar Association from 2012 to 2014.
Ferguson was admonished by the Commission on Judicial Performance in 2017 for posting a statement on Facebook about a judicial candidate “with knowing or reckless disregard for the truth of the statement,” and for being Facebook friends with attorneys appearing before him in court, according to a copy of the agency’s findings.
Ferguson said on his Facebook page that he grew up in a military family and traveled throughout Asia as a child. He attended college and law school in California and married his wife in 1996.
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This story has been edited to correct the spelling of the first name of Judge Jeffrey Ferguson’s wife. Her name was Sheryl, not Cheryl.
