Calif. Superior Court judge sentenced for fatally shooting wife during drunken dispute over money

SANTA ANA, Calif. (TCN) -- An Orange County Superior Court judge will spend decades behind bars for fatally shooting his 65-year-old wife amid a drunken dispute over money.

According to a Sept. 17 news release from the Orange County District Attorney's Office, Jeffrey Ferguson was sentenced to 35 years to life in connection with the death of his wife, Sheryl Ferguson. A jury previously convicted him of one felony count of murder, as well as one felony enhancement of personal use of a firearm and one felony enhancement of discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury or death.

Prosecutors said Jeffrey Ferguson shot his wife while they were in their living room watching TV. Instead of rendering aid, Ferguson, who was 72 at the time, reportedly went outside and texted his court bailiff and clerk, "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 the district attorney's office, the couple's 22-year-old son fought his father and tried to take the gun away from him following the shooting.

Anaheim Police responded after the son called 911. He reportedly told officials that his father shot his mother after she said, "Why don't you point a real gun at me?" Ferguson had also allegedly "simulated pointing a gun at his wife of 27 years using his fingers during an argument at dinner with his wife and son at a nearby Mexican restaurant shortly before the murder."

During a search at the defendant's home, investigators recovered 48 weapons, including rifles, shotguns, and handguns, and more than 26,000 rounds of ammunition.

According to prosecutors, since 2015, Ferguson has served as an Orange County Superior Court judge, and he began working as a prosecutor in the Orange County District Attorney's Office in 1983.

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