OC judge taken into custody after breaching bail in murder case

Orange County Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, who was arrested last year for shooting and killing his wife, was taken into custody in handcuffs on Tuesday after a judge in Los Angeles determined that he violated his bail by consuming alcohol.

Ferguson previously claimed that an alcohol monitor bracelet he wears produced a false positive because he applied hand sanitizer and cortisone cream to his leg.

"I honestly thought this would be a situation where Mr. Ferguson would come in and say, 'I'm human, I took a drink, I made a mistake,'" Judge Eleanor J. Hunter said at Tuesday's pretrial conference, noting that she would likely not have remanded Ferguson to police custody if he had come clean.

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. Ferguson, 23NF1975 (O.C. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 11, 2023).

As part of his $1 million bail agreement, Ferguson was prohibited from drinking alcohol and visiting establishments that mainly generate revenue through alcohol sales. However, an analyst for SCRAM Systems, the company that manufactures the alcohol monitoring bracelet, testified that alcohol consumption had been detected in late August, when Ferguson had lunch with two unidentified judges.

The witness, Shaun Stewart, said SCRAM Systems uses six-step criteria to distinguish incidental contact with alcohol, through products like hand sanitizer or being around people who are drinking, from actual consumption.

Ferguson's counsel, T. Edward Welbourn of Corrigan Welbourn Stokke APLC in Newport Beach, argued that the device may have read a false positive when Ferguson applied hand sanitizer and cortisone cream to alleviate irritation partially caused by the bracelet.

"In a situation where someone applies hand sanitizer with 80% alcohol content to the area between the skin and bracelet, would that result in a drinking event with SCRAM device?" Welbourn asked Stewart.

"It would be detected, but not meet the criteria," Stewart replied.

Welbourn also entered into evidence a hair follicle test he said indicated that Ferguson had not been drinking at the time the device was triggered. However, a disclaimer on the document's cover page gave Hunter pause.

"The front page ... says that testing was performed using a lab-developed test not cleared or approved by the FDA," Hunter said. "Then it goes on and says, 'This test may exclusively be used for diagnostic clinical or civil purposes. Nothing contained herein constitutes forensic analysis for criminal matters.'"

Hunter acknowledged Ferguson's past service to his community, but said she couldn't base her decision on that history.

"I have to look at what a defendant in a similar situation that's looking at murder charges where alcohol was involved ... and also to get up here and not be truthful with the court I just think is disrespectful," she said before delivering her ruling.

As bailiffs placed handcuffs on Ferguson's wrists, he quietly notified them of detached ligaments in his shoulder, and asked Welbourn to contact his adult son, who was at the family home when his mother was shot to death.

Ferguson's bail now sits at $2 million. If he posts bail, he will be prohibited from visiting any establishment that sells alcohol. Another pre-trial hearing is scheduled for Nov. 1, with the trial expected to begin in early 2025.