Orange County judge convicted of murder

Judge Jeffrey Ferguson has been convicted of second-degree murder in the killing of his wife.

Last month, a jury was unable to break an 11-1 stalemate on the same charge, resulting in a mistrial.

Ferguson, 74, killed his wife, 65-year-old Sheryl Ferguson, at their Anaheim Hills home in 2023 after what the Orange County District Attorney’s Office called “a drunken argument over money.”

He confessed to his bailiff and clerk after the shooting.

“I just shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry,” Ferguson wrote while his son attempted CPR on his wife, prosecutors said.

In trial, Ferguson admitted he shot his wife, but his attorney claimed the gun went off by accident.

Ferguson could have been convicted on manslaughter, though only if the jury acquitted him on murder.

Now that he’s been convicted of murder, he faces a maximum sentence of 40 years to life in prison.

“The second he pulled the trigger and killed his wife Judge Jeffrey Ferguson knew he was just like the violent criminals he has sent to prison and left his son to desperately try to pump the life into his dying mother’s body while he went outside to text his friends,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “This was not an accident. Ferguson was trained to never point a gun at anything he didn’t intend to destroy. On August 3, 2023, he took his gun out of his ankle holster and pointed it at exactly what he wanted to destroy – his wife of 27 years – and then he pulled the trigger and destroyed everything.”