California judge facing re-trial for wife's murder says death was accidental

NBC News

14-03-2025

After the case of an Orange County judge charged with murder for fatally shooting his wife ended in a mistrial Monday, Jeffrey Ferguson, the man in the center of the legal battle spoke exclusively with NBC Los Angeles on Thursday.
NBCLA's Hetty Chang was the only reporter to sit down with Ferguson at his Anaheim Hills home where he shot and killed his wife.
The first thing Ferguson did was to show the NBCLA crew the family room where he and his wife, Sheryl, were sitting when he said he accidentally discharged his gun and killed her.
Ferguson said he was relieved and disappointed at the same time when the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
'In the count — the 11 to one. That was sort of a blow to my emotions, but I don't have any other choice but to keep going forward,' Ferguson said.
The man facing a possible retrial said sitting in a courtroom, charged with his wife's murder was like 'being in an episode of Twilight Zone.'
'It's like you're snatched out of your reality, and you're plunked down without any warning into a completely different world, a world that's not particularly friendly to you,' Ferguson said. 'After doing what I've done in the criminal justice system for 40 years, finding myself in that chair was bewildering and hard to fathom.'
In response to critics who may still think the killing was intentional, Ferguson insisted, and reiterated over and over, that it was an accident.
'I'm not getting away with anything because I lost her, and she lost her life,' he said while sobbing.
The interview with NBCLA followed a mistrial that was declared Monday in the 74-year-old Ferguson's murder trial. He faced a murder charge in the Aug. 3, 2023 shooting death his 65-year-old wife Sheryl in the couple's Anaheim Hills home.
The jury, which could have convicted Ferguson of second-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter, split 11-1 in favor of a guilty verdict on a second-degree murder charge soon after resuming deliberations Monday morning. Deliberations began Feb. 26.
As deliberations stretched into the new week, the jury signaled they were at an impasse, but continued efforts to reach a decision. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor Hunter as jurors Thursday afternoon how many votes they had taken and the forewoman said several.
Hunter asked them to go back to deliberations and discuss.
Jurors left early on Friday, telling the judge overseeing the case they were 'exhausted.'
'Justice rests in the hands of 12 strangers who were taken from their everyday lives and given the immense responsibility to weigh the evidence and determine guilt or innocence,' said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. 'Although we are disappointed with the outcome, we will be reviewing the questions presented by the jury along with the facts as well as meeting with the victim's family in order to make a decision in the coming weeks regarding this case. The District Attorney has always been available to meet with the victim's family should that be something they request.'
A hearing to set a new trial date is scheduled for Thursday.
'A hung jury is not a failure,' defense attorney Cameron Talley said outside the courtroom. 'A hung jury is part of the process. It's also a success in its own way.
'The surprise was that the jury was out this long. I've never had a jury out for two weekends. But I think it's a testament to how hard this jury worked.'
During closing arguments, attorneys for the prosecution tried to convince jurors that Ferguson was upset following a dispute with his wife at a restaurant. When they two were back home, Ferguson took out his gun and killed his wife in a tragic chain of events that warrant a murder conviction, prosecutors said.
'You have been presented with evidence -- credible evidence -- he took out the gun, he was angry,' Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt told jurors Wednesday. 'He took the gun out, pointed at her and killed her.'
Defense attorneys argued the shooting was accidental.
'No, absolutely not. It was an accident,' Ferguson said when asked by Talley whether he meant to shoot his wife.
The Fergusons and their son Phillip went to El Cholo Mexican restaurant earlier that day, but Sheryl Ferguson left after her husband made a hand gesture mimicking a gun during an argument, according to testimony. Later at their home, Phillip Ferguson said he heard his mother say something to the effect of, 'Why don't you point a real gun at me?'
Calling it the most reliable account of the shooting, Hunt played video of the son later telling police, 'I turned around and he pulls out a gun and aims at her and fires.'
Hunt called the judge's account -- that he fumbled with the Glock pulled from an ankle holster and it accidentally discharged when he tried to place it on a cluttered coffee table -- 'ridiculous.'
Phillip Ferguson said his mother's last words were, 'He shot me,' Hunt said.
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'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.
At a news conference after the court proceeding, Spitzer said he plans to review some of Ferguson's cases. Ferguson, who has been in judge in Orange County for nine years, testified that he sometimes had a few drinks during lunch and may have been intoxicated during hearings over which he was presiding.
Talley challenged the prosecution's argument by saying it stems from a 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.
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 said there's no evidence his client was angry, but, he said, he was attempting to make peace and end the conflict.