Jurors struggling to reach a verdict in the murder trial of an Orange County Superior Court judge who shot and killed his wife at their Anaheim Hills home heard additional arguments by attorneys on Wednesday, March 5, during their sixth day of deliberations.
The Orange County Superior Court jury must decide whether Judge Jeffrey Ferguson should be convicted of second-degree murder, a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter or found not guilty of any criminal charges for the Aug. 2, 2023 killing of his wife, Sheryl.
The prosecution alleges that Judge Ferguson purposely fired the gunshot that killed his wife during a heated argument in front of their adult son at their home. But Ferguson testified that he accidentally fired the gunshot after his bad shoulder gave out while he was placing the firearm on a coffee table and his finger slipped onto the trigger.
After the shooting, Ferguson texted the bailiff and clerk who worked with him in his Fullerton courtroom “I just lost it. I shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry.” Jurors were also shown more than an hour of recorded, seemingly incriminating statements Ferguson made while in police custody. But the defense noted that Ferguson in those statements never said he intentionally shot his wife.
To avoid a conflict of interest, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge — Eleanor J. Hunter — is presiding over the trial in a Santa Ana courtroom.
Jurors late Monday reported reaching an impasse, but were ordered to continue deliberations. At the time, the jury foreperson said they were split on second-degree murder.
During their arguments Wednesday afternoon, the attorneys focused on whether or not Ferguson committed second-degree murder by purposely doing something that is inherently dangerous to human life even if he didn’t plan to fire the gun.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt argued that Ferguson, while intoxicated, took the loaded gun out of a safe position in his ankle holster and held it in close proximity to his loved ones.
“Handling a loaded firearm with a bullet in the chamber is inherently dangerous to human life,” Hunt said. “It is about the most dangerous thing you can think of doing while intoxicated.”
Defense attorney Cameron Talley countered that Ferguson was pointing the gun away from his wife and son and had his finger off of the trigger before fumbling the firearm.
“You can say that maybe it was careless to take out the gun at all, or it was a mistake of judgement,” Talley said. “But it has to be more than ordinary carelessness, more than a mistake in judgement.”
The jury will return for their seventh day of deliberations on Thursday morning.