An Orange County Superior Court judge accidentally shot and killed his wife at their Anaheim Hills home after his shoulder gave out and he fumbled the firearm, a defense attorney told jurors on Monday, Feb. 24 during the judge’s ongoing murder trial.
The defense attorney acknowledged that Judge Jeffrey Ferguson is an alcoholic who was arguing with his wife, Sheryl Ferguson, before pulling the gun that killed her out of his ankle holster, but denied that the Aug. 3, 2023 killing was intentional.
“Mr. Ferguson, who was 72-year-old (at the time), shot and killed his wife with a Glock Model 27 .40 caliber,” Attorney Cameron Talley said, referring to a concealed carry pistol that the judge constantly carried in an ankle holster. “The evidence is also going to show, without question, that it was an accident that resulted from an accidental discharge of his firearm.”
Talley promised jurors that they would hear from Judge Ferguson directly. Earlier in the morning, Ferguson confirmed to a judge while outside the presence of the jury that he intends to take the stand.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt, during the prosecution’s opening statement last week, told jurors that a heated argument between the judge and his wife ended with the wife — angered at her husband pointing a finger at her to mimic a firearm — allegedly telling the judge something to the effect of “Why don’t you use a real gun?” and the judge immediately responding by taking his pistol from the ankle holster and shooting his wife.
Ferguson — who had been a prosecutor and a judge for more than three decades — got a concealed carry license after prosecuting cases related to the Mexican Mafia, his defense attorney said. According to testimony in the trial, Ferguson only removed the gun and the holster when he was sleeping or taking a shower.
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Jeffrey and Sheryl Ferguson had been married for 27 years. Talley, the defense attorney, told jurors that the couple had no history of domestic violence, but did argue and fight. The main sources of tension in their relationship were Judge Ferguson’s daily drinking, his attorney said, and money they had given to an older son from the judge’s previous marriage that Sheryl didn’t feel the son was appreciative enough of.
“Never physical, but sometimes they would have shouting matches and raise their voices,” Talley said of the couple’s arguments.
The day of the shooting, an argument over finances began at the family home, continued when the couple went out to eat with their then-22-year-old son, who was at home from college over the summer, and culminated when the couple and their son came home and watched some of the final episodes of the television show “Breaking Bad” together.
The defense attorney acknowledged that while at dinner, Judge Ferguson made a “finger gun” motion at his wife in the midst of their argument. But the defense attorney said he did it to signal “You got me, you win,” to his wife. However, the defense attorney said, other people at the restaurant saw the “finger gun” motion, leaving Sheryl Ferguson embarrassed and angry.
The judge was drinking before the couple and their son left for dinner, at the restaurant and when they returned home, his attorney acknowledged. But Talley added that the judge was trying to make amends to his wife while they were watching television.
While the couple’s son, Phillip, testified to hearing his mother say something like “Why don’t you use a real gun,” the defense attorney told jurors that Judge Ferguson instead heard her say something like “Why don’t you put the real gun away for me?” She also made “pshew, pshew” sounds, the defense attorney added, apparently mimicking gunshots.
“He is a little drunk, a little confused,” Talley said of Judge Ferguson’s reaction to his wife’s alleged comments. “So he rocks forward and gets the gun out.”
Judge Ferguson — who was around 280 pounds at the time — struggled to get up and reach toward a coffee table, where books blocked him from placing the weapon straight forward, his attorney told jurors. Judge Ferguson turned the gun to the side to fit it on the table, his attorney said, when his shoulder — which had three out of four tendons gone — gave out, and his finger slid from the side of the gun onto the trigger, causing the pistol to fire.
On the night of the shooting, the couple’s son told detectives that he saw his father pull the gun from the holster, aim and fire the weapon. But, during his testimony last week, the son changed his story slightly, telling jurors that he didn’t actually see his father pull out the weapon and aim — instead claiming he turned around right before the gun went off — and for the first time describing up to 30 seconds going by between the mother commenting about the gun and the gun firing.
Not wanting to delay paramedics getting to his wife by forcing officers to search for a shooter, Judge Ferguson walked out of the home to the front yard, his attorney said, while his son frantically performed CPR on his mother.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Ferguson texted to the clerk and bailiff assigned to the courtroom he presided in at the time at the Fullerton courthouse “I just lost it. I just shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry.” He also told the arriving officers “I did it” and “shoot me,” and while in custody at the Anaheim Police Station made a series of seemingly incriminating comments, including saying to himself “I killed her. Ladies and Gentleman of the jury, convict my ass. I did it.”
Ferguson’s attorney said the judge was in shock, and still drunk, after the shooting. He knew it was going to take at least a few days to sort out the shooting, his attorney said, so his comments to his court staff were meant to say he wouldn’t be back the next day, not that he would never return. And the reference to jurors was simply the judge talking in the legal parlance he was used to, his attorney said, not him addressing an actual future jury that would decide his fate.
As Ferguson sobered up and the realization of his wife’s death sunk in, his attorney said, he was overcome by guilt and self-loathing, even if he didn’t believe he was legally responsible. At one point, Talley noted, Ferguson said to a detective “It was the blink of a (expletive) eye, the blink of an eye. Jesus Christ.” At another point, the defense attorney added, Ferguson told a detective “I didn’t mean to kill her.”
At the end of his opening statement, Talley told the jurors that he is asking them to find Judge Ferguson not guilty of any criminal charge.
The prosecution earlier in the day told the judge, outside the presences of the jury, that at this point in the trial they expect to argue for a second-degree murder conviction.
A Los Angeles County judge is presiding over the trial in a Santa Ana courtroom in order to avoid a conflict of interest with Ferguson’s Orange County judicial colleagues.
The same judge, Eleanor J. Hunter, ruled last year that Ferguson had lied on the stand while testifying in a bail review hearing. Ferguson testified during that earlier hearing that his use of cortisone cream and hand sanitizer had caused a false-positive reading on his ankle monitor. But Judge Hunter described that argument as “ridiculous” and doubled Ferguson’s bail to $2 million.
Whether the prosecution will be able to use Judge Hunter’s description of Ferguson lying on the stand in that earlier hearing while questioning Ferguson when he testifies in the murder trial has yet to be determined.
