Los Angeles jurors condemned a judge in southern California for second degree murder on Tuesday for fatally shooting his wife while the couple argued and watching television at home.
The judge of the Superior Court of Orange County, Jeffrey Ferguson, 74, was tried for the death of 2023 of his wife Sheryl, 65, at his home of Anaheim Hills.
Ferguson took the position in his own defense, admitting to shoot his wife, but said it was an accident.
The jury members reached their decision on Tuesday afternoon, one day after the deliberations begged.
After the verdict was read in the Court, Ferguson received a time to hug his son before being handcuff and tasks in Capy.
He was also convicted of an improvement of the pistol of serious crime and faces a maximum prison sentence of 40 years to life when he is sentenced on June 13.
Ferguson’s lawyer, Cameron Talley, said the defense plans to appeal.
“I respect the jury’s verdict,” Talley said. “At the same time, we all know that jurors don’t always do it well … I still believe in Jeff.”
The verdict occurs after a previous jury was blocked in March and the judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles, Eleanor J. Hunter, declared a null trial. Hunter has supervised the case to avoid a conflict of interest with the Superior Court in Orange County, where Ferguson presided over criminal cases until the shooting.
The case had started the legal community in the county, which houses 3 million people between Los Angeles and San Diego. Many have known or worked with Ferguson for decades, including Orange County District Prosecutor, Todd Spitzer.
“There are no winners here,” Spitzer said a press conference after the verdict. “Justice was achieved, but I am very sad for the Ferguson family.”
The prosecutors said Ferguson had been drinking before making a gun -shaped hands towards his wife for 27 years, an argument on family finances that drew in a Mexican restaurant on August 3, 2023.
Prosecutors said the argument continued at home while the couple watched “Breaking Bad” on television with their adult son, and Sheryl Ferguson rebuked her husband to indicate a real weapon. He did it, then he squeezed the trigger, prosecutors said.
Ferguson testified that he was removing the weapon of his cover to place it on a table, and lost it, and displeased him.
Immediately after the shooting, Ferguson and his son called 911, and Ferguson sent a text message to his secretary of the Court and the sheriff that said: “I just lost it. I just shoot my wife. I will not be in the morning. I will be a totody of a Totody of a comedy,” “” “” “” “” “, his son Phillip testified to his Father to establish the weapon after the shooting and play ceprillas.
Ferguson spoke with the police outside his house and again once he was in custody, and was on video sobbing and saying that his son and everyone would hate him. In the video, he said he killed his wife and begged a jury to condemn him.
The authorities said they found 47 weapons, including the weapon used in the shooting, and more than 26,000 rounds of ammunition at home, and said Ferguson had extensive experience and training in firearms.
“This was not an accident. Ferguson was trained to never point a gun to anything he did,” Spitzer said in a statement on the verdict.
Ferguson was a prosecutor for a long time that he became a judge in 2015. It was the legal career in the Office of the District Prosecutor in 1983 and worked in cases of narcotics, winning several awards.
Ferguson had been with a bail of $ 2 million, but was not presiding over in court, since the constitution of the State prohibits a judge who faces a serious crime charge of hearing cases.
