A Southern California judge, Jeffrey Ferguson, is set to stand trial on a murder charge in the shooting death of his wife after a preliminary hearing found there was enough evidence for the case to proceed. Ferguson was arrested in August and charged with killing his wife in their Anaheim Hills home. The hearing, held before a different judge to avoid a conflict, included testimony from police officers and a police detective who described the scene and interviews with the couple’s adult son, who called 911 to report the shooting.
Ferguson’s attorney stated that the son, who was the only eyewitness, believes the shooting was an accident and that Ferguson’s wife was the love of his life. Ferguson, who is a former prosecutor, is scheduled to be arraigned on July 5 on one count of murder and weapons-related enhancements. He remains free on $1 million bail but is required to use monitoring devices for GPS and blood alcohol content. The couple had been arguing and Ferguson, who had been drinking, allegedly shot his wife in the chest with a pistol he pulled from an ankle holster.
The couple’s son recounted to Anaheim police that the family had argued over finances at a restaurant where his parents made gun gestures with their hands. Upon returning home, the argument escalated, and Ferguson shot his wife in front of their son while watching television together. Ferguson’s son called 911, and Ferguson texted his court clerk and bailiff confessing to the shooting. When officers arrived, Ferguson was outside the home, asking them to shoot him. He smelled of alcohol and appeared in shock, according to police testimony.
Ferguson has been a judge since 2015, starting his legal career in 1983 in the Orange County district attorney’s office and winning awards for his work on narcotics cases. He was admonished by the Commission on Judicial Performance in 2017 for a Facebook post about a judicial candidate. Born into a military family, Ferguson traveled throughout Asia as a child, attended college and law school in California, and married his wife in 1996. The arrest shocked the Southern California legal community, and although the case is being tried by the Orange County district attorney’s office, hearings are taking place before a Los Angeles County judge in downtown Los Angeles.
