Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson has been charged with fatally shooting his wife at their Anaheim Hills home, it was revealed Friday.
Ferguson, 72, was charged Thursday with murder with sentencing enhancements for the personal discharge of a firearm causing death and the personal use of a firearm. The criminal complaint also alleges he used a Glock .40-caliber handgun and had threatened the victim earlier in the evening “by making a hand gesture indicative of pointing a gun at her.”
The complaint also notes the alleged homicide was done while he was an active judge and that it was an act of domestic violence.
Ferguson is accused of killing his wife, Sheryl, Aug. 3.
Deputy District Attorney Christopher Alex filed the case at the end of the day Thursday, so a record of it was not available until Friday. This week, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer reported he had consulted with the Attorney General’s Office, which found no conflict in his agency prosecuting the judge.
“This is a tragedy for the entire Ferguson family,” his attorneys John Barnett and Paul Meyer said in a statement. “It was an accident and nothing more.”
Anaheim Police Department officers arrested Ferguson after they were called to his home just after 8 p.m. in the 8500 block of East Canyon Vista Drive on reports of a shooting. Inside the home, officers found 65-year-old Sheryl Ferguson, the judge’s wife, suffering from at least one gunshot wound, said Anaheim police Sgt. Jonathan McClintock.
Sheryl Ferguson was pronounced dead at the scene.
Jeffrey Ferguson was booked into the Anaheim Jail and later transferred to Orange County Jail on suspicion of murder and was being held on $1 million bail, McClintock said. He posted bond and was released at 2:05 p.m. last Friday, according to jail records.
Police did not release further details of the alleged crime.
Prosecutors have filed a bail motion to advance a hearing from Sept. 1 to Aug. 15 to seek conditions for Ferguson’s release. The defendant’s attorneys say they are reviewing the motion.
The District Attorney’s Office said in a statement that prosecutors are concerned about a .22-caliber rifle registered to Ferguson remains unaccounted for after officers removed 47 other weapons and about 26,000 rounds of ammunition from his home. Another rifle police missed was later turned in by defense attorneys, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors are seeking to have the defendant surrender his passport, agree to a revocation of his permit to carry a concealed weapon and not possess any weapon or ammunition of any kind, submit to searches and seizures by law enforcement, remain in Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties, wear a GPS device so probation officials can keep track of his movements, have no contact with his son who was at the home the night of the shooting except through his attorneys and with his permission, refrain from consuming or possessing alcohol and stay away from establishments that sell or serve alcohol.
In the bail motion, Alex said Ferguson shot his wife “through the chest in the living room of their home in Anaheim.”
The prosecutor alleged the judge used a “loaded .40 pistol that he pulled from his ankle holster. He shot her at close range. He did so while intoxicated. His adult son witnessed the homicide.”
The dispute began earlier in the evening while the couple argued during a dinner at a restaurant near their home, Alex said.
Ferguson “pointed his finger at his wife in a manner mimicking a firearm,” Alex said.
The conflict continued at home “periodically” for about an hour, Alex said.
Referring to the hand gesture at dinner, Sheryl Ferguson allegedly said moments before her husband opened fire “words to the effect of: `Why don’t you point a real gun at me?”‘ Alex alleged.
Ferguson “retrieved his pistol from his ankle holster and shot (his wife) center mass,” Alex alleged.
Ferguson’s son called 911 and the judge did so as well. When a dispatcher asked the judge if he shot his wife, he said he did not want to discuss that at the time and when asked again, he said she needed paramedics, Alex said.
Minutes later, Alex alleged, Ferguson sent a text message to 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.”
The clerk and bailiff assumed he was joking, Alex said.
When officers arrived, Ferguson “slurred words and smelled of alcohol,” and their body-worn cameras caught him saying, “… well, I guess I’m done for a while … oh my God … my son … my son… I’m sorry … I (expletive) up … Oh man, I can’t believe I did this,” Alex alleged.
Seven hours after the shooting investigators got a blood sample from Ferguson, which showed he had a blood-alcohol level of .06.
His son told police that his father is more “heated” when drinking and arguing with his wife, Alex said.
His son “reported that, a few years prior, (Sheryl Ferguson) reported to him that defendant had attempted suicide with a gun,” Alex said. The son also said another time Ferguson discharged a gun while alone in a bathroom at the house.
The son did not witness the shooting and characterized it as an accidental discharge to officers, Alex said.
“Our thoughts go to the family,” Orange County Superior Court Presiding Judge Maria Hernandez said in a statement last week.
“We all pray for their comfort during this trying time,” Hernandez said.
Orange County Superior Court leaders were advised of the arrest on Thursday night by Anaheim police, Hernandez said.
The Fergusons have two sons, Kevin and Phillip, both adults.
Jeffrey Ferguson, a native of Oakland, earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences and social ecology from UC Irvine in 1973. He earned his law degree in 1982 from Western State College of Law, beginning his legal career the following year in the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, where he later became a senior prosecutor assigned to the Major Narcotics Enforcement Team. He was president of the North Orange County Bar Association from 2012-14. The Orange County Narcotics Officers Association named him prosecutor of the year four times.
He became a judge in 2015.
In 2017, he was admonished by the state Commission on Judicial Performance for comments he made on Facebook about a prosecutor who was campaigning to be a jurist and for maintaining “friends” status with three defense attorneys who had cases before him.
Sheryl Ferguson previously worked for the Santa Barbara and Orange County probation departments and later for the American Funds Service Company for almost 20 years prior to becoming a full-time mother.
Attorney Joel Garson told City News Service he got to know Sheryl Ferguson when he was a Boy Scout leader and her son Phillip was in his troop.
“She would come to all of the meetings,” Garson said. “She was very active in his progress in Boy Scouts and even after him making Eagle Scout she would show up at old troop functions. … She did T-shirt sales and whatever was asked of her. A lot of parents are drop-off parents and you never see them, but she was very active on the scout committee.”
–City News Service