Calif. Judge Accused of Killing Wife Repeats Claims It Was Accident After Mistrial

• Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, who is accused of shooting and killing his wife, Sheryl Ferguson, spoke out for the first time in a new interview since his case was declared a mistrial earlier this week
• During the conversation, Jeffrey likened the feeling of being put on trial for his wife’s murder — instead of presiding over a trial as he normally did as a judge — to “being in an episode of Twilight Zone“
• Ferguson was arrested on the night of his wife’s death and was later charged with one felony count of murder, one count of felony enhancement of personal use of a firearm and one count of felony enhancement of discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury and death

The California judge who is accused of shooting and killing his wife spoke out for the first time since his case was declared a mistrial earlier this week.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson was interviewed by an NBC Los Angeles reporter in his home — where the alleged shooting occurred — after jurors were unable to come to a unanimous decision in the trial and a mistrial was declared on Monday, March 10. 

Ferguson, 74, was on trial for killing his 65-year-old wife, Sheryl Ferguson, at their Anaheim Hills home on the night of Aug. 3, 2023. The jurors deliberated for eight days and were split 11 to 1, with just one juror believing Ferguson was not guilty, according to ABC7, the Los Angeles Times and CBS News.

“In the count — the 11 to one. That was sort of a blow to my emotions, but I don’t have any other choice but to keep going forward,” Ferguson told NBC Los Angeles. 

He likened the feeling of being put on trial for his wife’s murder — instead of presiding over a trial as he normally did as a judge — to “being in an episode of Twilight Zone.” 

“It’s like you’re snatched out of your reality, and you’re plunked down without any warning into a completely different world, a world that’s not particularly friendly to you,” he told the outlet. “After doing what I’ve done in the criminal justice system for 40 years, finding myself in that chair was bewildering and hard to fathom.”

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Ferguson — who pleaded not guilty to the crime — also reiterated his previous testimony on trial that he did not intentionally shoot his wife and that what happened was an accident. 

“I’m not getting away with anything because I lost her, and she lost her life,” an emotional Ferguson told NBC Los Angeles.

During the trial, the Calif. judge took to the stand to testify on the incident. He admitted that he and his wife had a heated argument earlier that night and that he had several drinks before they returned home. In his testimony, he claimed that he began feeling the effects of the alcohol and heard his wife tell him, “Why don’t you put that gun away from me.”

He said he proceeded to pull the gun from his ankle holster onto the coffee table to “defuse” the situation and claimed that the gun went off by mistake as he pulled it out. He further claimed a prior shoulder injury flared up and caused him to accidentally fire the gun.

“My arm failed, I got a shooting pain and my arm dropped,” Ferguson said earlier during his trial, per The San Bernardino Sun. “I reflexively grabbed it. I didn’t want to drop it on the floor. It fired. When I grabbed it my finger came off the trigger guard and must have hit the trigger.”

Prosecutors, however, claimed Ferguson purposefully killed his wife during a fit of rage fueled by alcohol and their previous argument, per CBS News. “You have been presented with evidence — credible evidence — he took out the gun, he was angry,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt said to jurors at the trial last week. “He took the gun out, pointed at her and killed her.” 

Ferguson was arrested on the night of his wife’s death and was later charged with one felony count of murder, one count of felony enhancement of personal use of a firearm and one count of felony enhancement of discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury and death.

A hearing to set a new trial date for Ferguson is scheduled for Thursday, March 20.