California judge arrested and charged with shooting wife to death
Anaheim police officers arrived on the scene shortly after 8:00 p.m. Thursday at the home of Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, 72, where his wife Sheryl, 65, was found dead.
A California judge was arrested on suspicion of shooting his wife to death at their Anaheim Hills home, local authorities reported Friday.
Anaheim Police Department officers arrived on the scene shortly after 8:00 p.m. Thursday at the home of Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, 72, where his shot wife, Sheryl, 65, was found lifeless.
Ferguson was taken into custody without incident on suspicion of murder and placed on $1 million bail, police added.
“Detectives are not releasing any additional details at this time because the investigation is ongoing,” police added.
According to two sources, who were not identified, told the Los Angeles Times that a son of the couple was inside the home at the time police arrived.
Ferguson was an Orange County deputy district attorney in 1983, his first legal experience, being promoted to senior assistant district attorney, and a decade later sent to the Major Narcotics Task Force, according to his biography. He was named prosecutor of the year four times by the Orange County Narcotics Officers Association.
The judge was embroiled in controversy in 2017 by the California Judicial Performance Commission for making an inappropriate comment about a judicial candidate on Facebook, whom he had added as a ‘friend,’ the Orange County Register noted.
Ferguson was found to have violated the judicial ethics code with “knowing or reckless disregard for the truth of the statement.”
Ferguson’s wife worked for the Santa Barbara and Orange County Probation Departments, then spent nearly 20 years at American Funds Service Co, according to the judge’s biography.