Closing arguments delivered in trial of OC judge accused in wife's shooting death

Closing arguments were delivered Wednesday morning in the murder trial of an Orange County judge accused in the shooting death of his wife in the couple's Anaheim Hills home.

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.

They will consider whether the shooting was second-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter, if they do not acquit him.

"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."

Hunt said it was a tragedy, but that Ferguson is still guilty of murder.

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 El Cholo Mexican 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.

Under cross-examination Tuesday from a prosecutor, Ferguson struggled to explain his claim that he accidentally fired the weapon. 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 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.

Just before the shooting, Ferguson said he thought he heard his wife 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'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.

When attorney Cameron Talley asked his client Monday if he meant to shoot his wife, Ferguson had responded, "No, absolutely not. It was an accident."

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 said 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?"