Closing arguments delivered in trial of OC judge accused of killing wife

SANTA ANA, Calif. (CNS) -- Closing arguments wrapped up Wednesday in the trial of Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, who is charged with murder for the fatal shooting of his wife during an argument in their Anaheim home, a shooting he contends was accidental.

Ferguson's murder trial is now in the hands of the jury, who will continue deliberating the judge's fate on Thursday.

Ferguson was bickering with his wife in a drunken rage at their Anaheim Hills home, pointed a gun at her and finished the argument with a fatal shot, a prosecutor argued today, while the defendant's attorney said it was an accident and forensic evidence from the government proves it.

Jeffrey Ferguson, 74, is charged with murder with sentencing enhancements for discharge of a gun causing death and the personal use of a gun for the Aug. 3, 2023, death of his 65-year-old wife, Sheryl. Jurors will begin deliberating after closing arguments and will consider whether the shooting was second-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter if they do not acquit him.

During their closing statements, prosecutors said the case is straight forward-- Ferguson got drunk, got into an argument with his wife and used a concealed carry gun on him to shoot her.

"We're not alleging he premeditated this crime. Facts don't support that but they do support that he intended to kill," said Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt.

Hunt argued that the text message the judge sent to his bailiff and clerk minutes after the shooting was a confession and asked the jury to use common sense when reviewing the evidence. In the text message, Ferguson said, "I just lost it. Just shot my wife. I won't be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I'm so sorry.''

"He describes what he just did,'' Hunt said. "We all know what this means. He lost his temper and shot his wife.''

Ferguson's defense attorney argued that the shooting was an accident.

"I'm asking you to do the harder thing but you have the integrity to do it. You should vote not guilty, no touchdown, not beyond a reasonable doubt," said Cameron Talley, the defense attorney.

He said Ferguson removed the gun from an ankle holster and was trying to place it on a coffee table in their living room when his disabled shoulder gave out. He fumbled the gun and it went off, shooting Sheryl.

"The forensics is on the side of the defense. The autopsy is on the side of the defense. The science is on the side of the defense," said Talley. "Circumstantial evidence, which doesn't lie or have a bias, is on the side of the defense."

"You have been presented with evidence -- credible evidence -- he took out the gun, he was angry,'' Hunt told jurors Wednesday. "He took the gun out, pointed at her and killed her.''

Hunt said it was a "sad, tragic situation, but he is still guilty of murder.''

Hunt characterized the defendant as an experienced gun owner who knew how to handle the weapon and intended to shoot his wife. "He had it on him at all times.''

Ferguson even "instructed his son to not point it in any direction of anything you don't intend to destroy,'' Hunt said. He was also an expert on the law'' as a prosecutor of 30 years and nine years on the bench.

"That puts him in a unique position as a defendant -- he knows how to answer certain questions, and how to evade others,'' Hunt said.

Hunt argued the most reliable account of the shooting that he defendant's son, Phillip Ferguson, made was to police right after it happened.

Phillip Ferguson's testimony at times conflicted with what he told police in separate interviews, including one after he met with a defense investigator.

The prosecutor played a portion of the son's call to 911 when he told a dispatcher his father shot his mother following an argument that had been ongoing "since dinner.''
Sheryl Ferguson stormed out of the restaurant the three went to for about 10 minutes after the defendant made a hand gesture of a gun during their dispute. Before the shooting later in their home, Phillip Ferguson said he heard her say something to the effect of, Why don't you point a real gun at me?''

Hunt played video of the son telling police later, "I turned around and he pulls out a gun and aims at her and fires.''

Hunt ridiculed as "ridiculous'' Ferguson's defense that he thought he heard his wife tell him to put his gun away so he fumbled it as he tried to safely place it on a cluttered coffee table and as he tried to regain control of it, the weapon fired.

Phillip Ferguson said his mother's last words were, "He shot me,'' Hunt noted.

"They weren't 'Gosh, what an accident,''' Hunt said.

Ferguson testified that as he tried to reach his arm out to place the gun on the coffee table he felt a "shooting pain'' in his disabled shoulder, causing him to fumble the gun. Hunt cast skepticism on that claim as well, noting the defendant showed full use of his arm during police questioning.

Hunt said the gun requires five pounds of pressure to depress the trigger. Doing that while fumbling with a gun in the air and then hitting the victim at "center mass'' is "ludicrous,'' Hunt argued.

Hunt also noted the Glock 40 is designed to not fire if dropped, but was skeptical of Ferguson's claim he didn't know that.

Hunt also ridiculed Ferguson's testimony of how he was holding the gun palm up as if he were handling "cafeteria pizza.''

"His own story sets him up for implied malice murder,'' Hunt said, adding the way he says he was handling the weapon shows a "conscious disregard for life.''

Ferguson's blood-alcohol level was .065 percent when it was measured seven hours after the shooting, Hunt said. An expert testified it was likely about .17 percent, or nearly twice the legal limit for driving, at the time of the shooting, Hunt noted.

Ferguson's attorney, Cameron Talley, argued that the prosecution's theory is "flawed due to a fundamental misunderstanding of how guns work.''

Talley noted how Hunt referred to loading bullets in the gun during the trial when the weapon uses magazines. Talley also said the pathway of the bullet as the pathologist in the case testified disproves any legal theory that Ferguson's arm was crooked at a 45-degree angle.
"I'm going to prove he's innocent,'' Talley said. "And I'm going to do it with government witnesses.''

Talley noted one detective's testimony about how far the casing from the gun's projectile would go if it were fired the way the prosecution theorized. But Talley said it was found right next to the coffee table, which was consistent with his theory of an accidental shooting.

Talley also argued that home surveillance video also indicated there was no muzzle flash, which was also consistent with an accidental misfire.

The bullet ripped through the victim's abdomen "slightly to the left'' and exited the upper right of her back, which would match the angle of where the defendant said the gun misfired, Talley argued.

Talley also argued there's no evidence his client was angry, but, he said, he was attempting to make peace and end the conflict.

"He's not mad,'' he said. Where's this drunken rage coming from?''

Ferguson testified Monday that when he reached over a coffee table to set the gun down he felt a "shooting pain'' in his disabled shoulder, causing it to fall and as he attempted to regain control the gun went off and shot his wife.

Under at times intense questioning Tuesday from Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt, Ferguson tried to explain how he inadvertently triggered the Glock he had pulled out of his ankle holster. Ferguson testified that he saw an open space on a cluttered, knee-high coffee table between television remote controls, a potted plant and books where he felt he could place the gun safely.

He unholstered the gun and was holding it palm up with his finger on the slide above the trigger loop as he was stooping forward from a sitting position on a couch to place the gun down, he said.

Ferguson and his wife had been bickering after he got home from work that afternoon and continued the argument as they went to the El Cholo Mexican restaurant near their home where the judge made a gun gesture with his hand that offended her.

Just before the shooting, Ferguson said he thought he heard her tell him to put his gun away, which confused him initially, but then he went to do it to appease her. He said she made her own gun gesture with her hand and made a "pa-choo, pa-choo'' sound like bullets firing.

"I was trying to do what she asked me to do,'' he said. "I never pointed it in her direction.''

Hunt suggested Ferguson could have gone upstairs and put the gun away as he routinely did each night before going to bed.

"I could have done a lot of things,'' Ferguson said.

Ferguson said it was difficult to lean forward to place the gun on the coffee table because of his girth at the time. He weighed 100 pounds more the night of the shooting.

"I couldn't lean too far forward because my stomach wouldn't permit it,'' he said, explaining why he was extending his shoulder, which was missing three of four tendons since 2015 surgery.

Hunt also asked the judge why he didn't just clear the books or television remotes away before placing down the gun.

"There was already room'' for the gun, he answered. He later said it didn't occur to him to move the other items aside.

"I thought it would be safe,'' he said.

The judge said that when he returned home from work the day of the shooting, he downed a 16-ounce beer and then a rum and Coke. Ferguson did not recall drinking an old fashioned during a work lunch break at a local restaurant until Hunt showed him a receipt. Ferguson said when he did drink on a lunch break from work it was one once or twice a week and it was usually a gin and tonic.

When asked if he was an alcoholic, the judge said, "I don't think I thought so. I drank too much and was in denial so I suppose I was.''

He estimated he would drink three days of the week.

The trouble on the day of the shooting started when Sheryl Ferguson checked the mail and didn't see an expected thank you card from her husband's son from his prior marriage.

Kevin Ferguson, who was 37 at the time, had adopted a daughter who was a few months old earlier that summer and the judge, his wife and their son, Phillip, who was a senior at Southern Methodist University, visited them at their home in Highland Park.

The defendant and his wife would argue about financially aiding Kevin Ferguson, the judge testified.

"What annoyed her was he didn't express his appreciation or gratitude,'' Jeffrey Ferguson testified. "Sheryl (also) had hopes that Kevin and Phillip would have a stronger family bond ... but Kevin never sent birthday cards to Phillip, or her or me ... but he would ask us to send cards to his wife.''

So the dispute on the night of the shooting "was about not getting a thank you card'' 10 days after Kevin Ferguson had received $2,000 from the couple and promised to send a card, the judge testified.

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