A mistrial was declared Monday in the case of a Southern California judge charged with murder in the fatal shooting of his wife in 2023.
The jury deadlocked with 11 of 12 voting for a guilty verdict.
Jeffrey Ferguson remains free on a $2 million bond, according to defense attorney Cameron Talley.
“The jury foreperson told us for a week now that there’s movement, movement, movement and so initially it was probably pretty close to even, is my guess, but with all that movement, there must have been some people there that at first just didn’t think it was murder,” Talley told NTD News, sister media of The Epoch Times, on March 10.
Talley confirmed that the 75-year-old former judge was arrested and booked on suspicion of fatally shooting his wife on Aug. 3, 2023. It was just after 8 p.m. when the Anaheim Police Communications Center said it received reports of a shooting.
Upon the officers’ arrival, they found 65-year-old Sheryl Ferguson suffering from at least one gunshot wound, according to Anaheim Police, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The couple had been drinking alcohol and forensics proved the shooting was an accident, according to Talley.
“He’s relieved, but he still lost his wife, Sheryl,” Talley said. “He’s still old. He’s still sick. He’s not spiking a football anywhere.”
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, whose office prosecuted the case, did not answer questions but issued a statement on a mistrial being declared.
“Justice rests in the hands of 12 strangers who were taken from their everyday lives and given the immense responsibility to weigh the evidence and determine guilt or innocence,“ Spitzer wrote. ”Although we are disappointed with the outcome, we will be reviewing the questions presented by the jury along with the facts as well as meeting with the victim’s family in order to make a decision in the coming weeks regarding this case. The district attorney has always been available to meet with the victim’s family should that be something they request.”
Ferguson previously worked for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office from 1983 until he was elected as a judge in 2015.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter presided over the case.
During the trial, prosecutors said the Fergusons had been arguing about money before the incident and that Jeffrey Ferguson had been drinking.
When Ferguson gestured towards his wife of 27 years as if he had a gun in his hand, she dared him to follow through.
Later, when they were home watching television with their adult son Phillip, Ferguson fumbled while removing a gun from his ankle holster to place it on the table and it went off, Talley said, in his opening statement.
“The angle of the bullet through her body was from left to right and down to up,” said Talley who is based in Newport Beach. “He was sitting to her right so, if he reached over and he pointed against, shot her and hit her on the left side, where did it go … out her left? It’s not a magic bullet that comes back towards you. So, all the forensics just proved it was an accident.”
Talley added that Hunter offered April 7 or May 19 as the next court date to begin a new trial.
“That’s assuming that the DA wants to go forward with a new trial,” Talley said. “I’m hopeful there could be a resolution at this point.”
Talley stopped short of describing what a resolution without a new trial would look like.
