OC judge pleads not guilty to wife's murder

Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, accused of fatally shooting his wife during an altercation at their home last year, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges in a Los Angeles courtroom on Friday.

Ferguson appeared before Judge Eleanor J. Hunter at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, where a pre-trial conference is now set for September.

T. Edward Welbourn of Corrigan Welbourn Stokke APLC in Newport Beach, who represents Ferguson, declined to comment in a phone call following Friday's hearing.

Ferguson is charged with first degree murder, discharge of a firearm causing death and personally using a firearm in the commission of a crime. He is a former deputy DA and supervised a criminal arraignment calendar in Orange County at the time of the shooting. People v. Jeffrey Malcolm Ferguson, 23NF1975 (O.C. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 11, 2023).

Ferguson was arrested last August after the Anaheim Police Department received a report of a shooting at his residence.

"Upon officers' arrival, they located 65-year-old Sheryl Ferguson inside the residence suffering from at least one gunshot wound," a news release issued by the department read. "Sheryl Ferguson was pronounced deceased at the scene."

A notice of arraignment filed by Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer following the shooting quotes Ferguson as texting his clerk, "I just shot my wife."

A detailed notice written by Orange County Deputy District Attorney Christopher A. Alex said that Ferguson and his wife got into an argument during a night out. Ferguson is alleged to have pointed at his wife in the restaurant with a hand gesture as if to shoot her, the notice stated. The filing indicates that, as the couple argued back at home, she said, "Why don't you point a real gun at me?" Ferguson allegedly reached for his Glock .40 from his ankle holster and shot her in the chest. She died at the scene in the presence of their son.

The filing says that Ferguson repeatedly made statements to the responding officers that he "fucked up," and asked them to shoot him.

Shortly after the arrest, Orange County Presiding Judge Maria D. Hernandez moved the case to Los Angeles, the Orange County Superior Court confirmed in August.

In September, counsel for Ferguson indicated that, while Ferguson's trial will be assigned to a Los Angeles judge, it would be held in Orange County in front of local jurors.

"I'd expect the case to be tried in Orange County," John D. Barnett of Tustin said in a phone interview. "I don't expect jurors to be bused to L.A. Traditionally a judge travels from the neighboring county to the county of venue."

The Orange County District Attorney's office did not respond to requests for comment by press time on Friday.