California Judge charged with murdering wife after drunken argument texted court staff to confess

A murder charge was filed on Friday against a judge in Southern California who allegedly shot and killed his wife during a drunken argument.

Prosecutors said the judge texted his court clerk and bailiff right after the shooting to confess his crime.

Jeffrey Ferguson, 72, a judge of the Orange County Superior Court, is accused of shooting his wife, Sheryl Ferguson, in the chest with a pistol at their home in Anaheim Hills on Aug. 3.

The couple had been arguing at a restaurant earlier that night and continued the dispute at home, according to a court document from the Orange County district attorney’s office.

The document says that Sheryl Ferguson taunted her husband by saying something like “Why don’t you point a real gun at me?” and he pulled out a gun from his ankle holster and fired at her.

Their adult son witnessed the shooting and called 911 to report that his father had been drinking too much and shot his mother.

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Jeffrey also called 911 but did not admit to shooting his wife. He only said that she needed paramedics and he did not want to talk about it then.

When police arrived, they found Jeffrey Ferguson smelling of alcohol and saying “Oh man I can’t believe I did this,” the document says.

The 72-year-old judge was arrested at the scene and released the next day on $1 million bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 1.

Prosecutors said they are seeking new bail conditions for him to ensure he does not flee or pose a danger to the public. They said they found 47 weapons, including the one used in the shooting, and more than 26,000 rounds of ammunition at his home. They also said he should surrender his passport, wear an ankle monitor, and abstain from alcohol and firearms.

Jeffrey has been a judge since 2015 and handles criminal cases in Fullerton. He started his career as a prosecutor in 1983 and worked on narcotics cases. He was also a president of a local bar association from 2012 to 2014.

He was admonished by the Commission on Judicial Performance in 2017 for posting a false statement on Facebook about a judicial candidate and for being Facebook friends with lawyers appearing before him in court.

The Orange County judge said on his Facebook page that he grew up in a military family and traveled around Asia as a child. He married Sheryl Ferguson in 1996.

The case has shocked the legal community in Southern California and raised questions about how it should be handled. The Orange County district attorney’s office asked state officials to determine if there was a conflict of interest before filing charges. A judge from Los Angeles County will preside over the case, officials said.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which runs the county jail, said Jeffrey Ferguson was released according to the standard rules for bail and the law. They said no additional conditions were requested by Anaheim police, who arrested him.

Jeffrey’s lawyers issued a brief statement and declined to comment further.

“This is a tragedy for the entire Ferguson family. It was an accident and nothing more,” they said.

"We're merely responsible for accommodating him by our county's mandate for detaining arrestees," he stated.

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"The sheriff's department lacks the authority to impose stipulations."

When Ferguson was taken into custody, the evidence and situation didn't warrant an increase in bail, explained Anaheim police Sgt. Jon McClintock. He noted that the judge "holds the same constitutional privilege to post bail as any other individual" and refrained from commenting on the submission from the district attorney's office.

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