Judge's own words haunt him as murder trial wraps up

"I killed her, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Convict my ass. I did it. I owe it to my son. Convict me. Send me on my way."

Those were the slurred words of a drunken Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey M. Ferguson, recorded in an Anaheim Police Department interview room on the night he shot and killed his wife, Sheryl Ferguson, 65, in their Anaheim Hills home.

Prosecutors played the full video - which had been played in snippets throughout the trial - for jurors Wednesday morning as Senior Deputy District Attorney Seaton B. Hunt delivered his closing argument.

"This is not a complex case," Hunt told jurors. "It all points in one direction - he is guilty of murder."

Hunt argued that Ferguson, an experienced gun owner and legal expert, knew exactly what he was doing.

"This isn't a new gun to him. This is a gun he is intimate with," Hunt said. "He instructed his own son in firearm safety. In addition, he is an expert in the law. He was an attorney of 30-plus years. A prosecutor and a judge of 10 years so he understands the law."

Ferguson, 74, is accused of killing his wife on Aug. 3, 2023, after a drunken argument over money and conflicts involving his adult son from a previous marriage. He faces three felony charges: second-degree murder, discharge of a firearm resulting in death, and use of a firearm during the commission of a felony. People v. Ferguson, 23NF1975, (O.C. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 11, 2023).

Hunt reminded jurors that Ferguson admitted to drinking heavily that day - beer, a Manhattan, rum with Coke, and margaritas.

"And when he was asked about alcohol and carrying his concealed weapon, the defendant didn't think the law applied to him," Hunt said.

The prosecutor dismissed the defense's claim that the shooting was accidental.

"If it were an accident, he would have used the word. He never used the word, 'This was an accident,'" Hunt told the jury. "Nothing he says is consistent with an accident. He got angry and lost his temper."

Hunt pointed to Ferguson's text messages as evidence of guilt.

A message to his bailiff and another colleague read, "I lost it. I shot her. I won't be in tomorrow. I'll be in custody. I'm sorry."

"That's a confession," Hunt told the jury.

Earlier in the trial, Ferguson testified that the message was an attempt to "grasp some mundane thing to get a grip on the reality. I was in shock."

His lead lawyer, Cameron Talley, told jurors in his closing argument that the prosecution failed to meet its burden of proof.

"I don't have to prove anything," Talley told jurors. "The government has to prove 100 percent that Mr. Ferguson did it without a shadow of a doubt."

To support Ferguson's claim that he fumbled his gun and discharged it accidentally, Talley said, "He told police he was missing three of four tendons in his shoulder. He is not a mastermind in making that up."

Talley emphasized the bullet's trajectory.

"The entry of the bullet went in the abdomen slightly to the left," he said. "It went up and to the right, exiting through the upper back."

"It was an accident," Talley told jurors. "The People got it wrong," he said. "Mr. Ferguson fumbled the gun. He got it out, fumbled it. It was an accidental discharge."

"He was a little drunk, he got it out. All of us who have been married or have had a significant other sometimes get in the doghouse," Talley said. "She tells him to shut up."

Talley argued that Ferguson had no history of violence.

"There has never been a domestic violence call to their home, and he just decides that it's just the time to kill her?" Talley asked. "Is one shot consistent with an accident or a drunken rage?"

During the week-and-a-half-long trial, Ferguson testified for several hours over two days. He claimed the shooting happened while he was attempting to place his firearm on a cluttered coffee table. According to his testimony, he experienced acute pain in his disabled shoulder, lost control of the gun, and it discharged.

Prosecutors established a timeline of escalating tension between Ferguson and his wife that night. They pointed to an incident at El Cholo Mexican restaurant, where Ferguson made a gun gesture that upset his wife.

Ferguson testified to drinking heavily but denied being an alcoholic.

"I don't think I thought so. I drank too much and was in denial, so I suppose I was."

Jurors began deliberations at 2 p.m., after receiving instructions from Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter, who is presiding over the trial in Orange County. If convicted, Ferguson faces sentencing enhancements for discharge of a firearm causing death and personal use of a firearm.