The son of a judge hugged his father goodbye after he was convicted of shooting his mother to death.
Jeffrey Ferguson, 74, who served as a Superior Court Judge in Orange County, California, was found guilty of second-degree murder Tuesday for fatally shooting his wife Sheryl, 65, to death in 2023.
Jeffrey admitted to fatally shooting her in their Anaheim Hills home over an argument while the couple watched Breaking Bad on TV.
After the verdict was read in court, Jefferey, who said he shot his late wife by accident, was given a moment to hug his son Phillip before he was handcuffed and taken into custody.
The former judge was also found guilty of a felony gun enhancement. He faces a maximum of 40 years to life in prison.
Despite his conviction, which came after a judge declared a mistrial in his case in March, Jeffrey’s attorney Cameron Talley said the defense plans to appeal.
‘I respect the jury’s verdict. At the same time, we all know that juries don’t always get it right … I still believe in Jeff,’ Talley said.
The case itself has affected the legal community as a whole as the Fergusons were well-known due to Jeffrey presiding over many criminal cases up until Sheryl’s murder.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who’s known and worked with Jeffrey for decades, said the conviction does not mean there are ‘winners’ in the unfortunate case.
‘There are no winners here. Justice was achieved, but I´m very sad for the Ferguson family,’ Spitzer said.
After his mistrial, Jeffrey said he and his wife had been ‘bickering like Lucy and Desi’ – comparing his own marriage to the iconic husband and wife duo Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz from the 1950s TV show ‘I Love Lucy’ – in an interview with Inside Edition.
On the show, the real-life married couple was constantly squabbling and name-calling, though it was understood that teasing each other was part of how they showed affection.
‘I wasn’t angry at her. I loved her,’ the 74-year-old jurist said while crying.
‘We were just bickering like Lucy and Desi. I didn’t murder her. I never would do that.’
Prosecutors said Jeffrey had been drinking before he made a gun-like hand gesture toward his wife of 27 years during an argument about family finances they had during dinner at a Mexican restaurant on August 3, 2023.
The argument continued at home while the couple was watching TV with their adult son, and Sheryl chided her husband to point a real gun at her. He did, then pulled the trigger, prosecutors said.
Jeffrey testified that he was removing the gun from his ankle holster to place it on a table, and fumbled it, and it discharged.
In February, Phillip, 24, testified that he witnessed the brutal shooting and desperately tried to save his mother.
He said that he jumped over the couch where she was lying in a pool of blood and forced his father to hand over the gun.
Phillip attempted to save his mother’s life by performing CPR, but she was no longer breathing.
‘As I was jumping over the couch, I heard her say, “He shot me,”‘ Phillip said.
He also testified that he was opening a sliding glass door when he heard his parents fighting. Phillip said he turned around just before the gun fired, the Orange County Register reported.
Immediately after the shooting, Jeffrey and his son both called 911, and he texted 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,’ according to a copy of a text message shown to jurors.
Jeffrey spoke with police outside his home and while in custody, and was seen on video sobbing and saying his son and everyone would hate him.
In the video, he said he killed his wife and pleaded for a jury to convict him.
Authorities said they found 47 weapons, including the gun used in the shooting, and more than 26,000 rounds of ammunition at the home. They also noted Jeffrey had ample experience and training in firearms.
‘This was not an accident. Ferguson was trained to never point a gun at anything he didn´t intend to destroy,’ Spitzer said in a statement about the verdict.
He was a long-time prosecutor who became a judge in 2015. He began his legal career in the district attorney’s office in 1983 and went on to work on narcotics cases, winning various awards.
Jeffrey had been out on $2 million bail but was not presiding in court as the state constitution bars a judge facing a felony charge from hearing cases.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter presided over his trial to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
His sentencing hearing is set for June 13.