Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson could face 40 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Wednesday after his second-degree murder conviction for shooting his wife following an hours-long argument.
The 74-year-old Ferguson was convicted in April of killing 65-year-old Sheryl Ferguson on Aug. 3, 2023, at their Anaheim Hills home. Jurors also found true a sentence-enhancing gun allegation.
A previous jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of a second-degree murder conviction, prompting the retrial.
Before sentencing, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor Hunter, who was brought in to oversee the trial because of Ferguson’s position on the Orange County bench, will have to decide a motion for a new trial from the defendant’s co-counsel, Frances Prizzia.
Prizzia argued that her client should get a new trial because Hunter denied a delay in the retrial so an expert witness, forensic psychologist Lisa Grajewski, could be available to testify as she did in the first trial.
That led to defense attorneys having to rely on a “last-minute expert,” Prizzia said.
“The court’s ruling that the defense could only present evidence by one firearms expert prevented the defense from presenting crucial evidence supporting its theory that the shooting was accidental rather than an intentional act or one committed with malice,” Prizzia said.
A mistrial in the first trial was declared March 10. Opening statements in the next trial were held April 14.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer praised Hunter for fast-tracking a retrial within a month.
Defense attorney Cameron Talley told Hunter he wasn’t ready for a retrial, pointing out he lost his original co-counsel and had just received transcripts from the original trial, among other reasons. Prizzia was co-counsel for Talley in the retrial.
Hunter criticized Ferguson multiple times in court for doing television news interviews following the mistrial.
Talley defended his client, saying Ferguson just wanted the public to know he loved his wife.
The defendant’s son, Phillip Ferguson, was “balling his eyes out” after the verdict. Phillip Ferguson was there for the shooting and a key witness in the trials.
Phillip Ferguson struggled through his testimony in the retrial, as he did in the first trial. That opened up a chance for prosecutors to admit more of the video of police questioning the son as evidence in the retrial.
Jeffrey Ferguson claimed the shooting was accidental, insisting the gun discharged when he fumbled while trying to set the weapon on a coffee table. He said his shoulder, which is missing three of four tendons, gave out while he was handling the weapon and it discharged.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt, who has since left the office for another job as a prosecutor in another county, called the judge’s story “ludicrous,” noting that the Glock handgun that Ferguson carried in an ankle holster required 5 pounds of pressure on the trigger to discharge, and was specifically designed not to fire when dropped.
Hunt also noted that Ferguson never mentioned his injured shoulder or an accidental discharge to police the night of the shooting.
Ferguson, who conceded having an alcohol problem, was drinking throughout the day and began arguing with his wife when he got home. Sheryl Ferguson became angry when she realized the judge’s son from a previous marriage, Kevin, had not sent a thank you note as promised for money the couple gave him for child care for his daughter.
Her anger was exacerbated by the knowledge that Ferguson was not Kevin’s biological father — a fact that only publicly emerged during the retrial. The family learned of it in 2019.
The argument continued when the couple went out to dinner with their son Phillip. The argument escalated when the judge pointed at his wife with a gun-like gesture, prompting her to angrily walk out of the restaurant. She eventually returned, but the argument continued when the family returned home and continued their nightly ritual of watching “Breaking Bad.”
Prosecutors said that at one point during the argument, Sheryl Ferguson said something to the extent of “Why don’t you point a real gun at me?” That prompted the judge to remove his Glock from his ankle holster and shoot her, prosecutors said.
The judge disputed that theory, saying he thought his wife said “get that gun away from me,” and he was trying to comply by removing it from the holster and setting it on a coffee table, but he fumbled it, causing it to discharge.
Talley argued that forensic evidence backed the judge’s version of events. Talley argued that the bullet wound from the single gunshot indicated the angle of the weapon was pointing upward, which would be consistent with Ferguson’s account of the accidental shooting.
Talley also argued that the location where the bullet cartridge landed also proves the point, since it would have been ejected further away instead of at the base of the coffee table if it had been fired directly at the victim, as the prosecution theorized.
“It landed where it landed if he’s telling the truth,” Talley said.
Talley noted that the judge posted a photo of his wife on his Facebook page before the shooting. And the two had made plans to buy a home in Texas to be closer to their son, who was attending his final semester at Southern Methodist University. He also advised his wife to buy some lottery tickets that morning.
Ferguson sent a note to his courtroom bailiff and clerk outside the house after the shooting, 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.”