LOS ANGELES (CNS) – An Orange County Superior Court judge charged with fatally shooting his wife was free on bond Wednesday after serving the past month behind bars for violating the terms of his earlier release.
Jeffrey Malcolm Ferguson had been free on $1 million bond, but during a hearing on Sept. 24, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter doubled Jeffrey Malcolm Ferguson’s bail to $2 million after prosecutors argued that he had consumed alcohol that triggered his ankle monitor — in violation of the terms of his release.
Ferguson was immediately taken into custody.
According to Los Angeles County jail records, Ferguson was again released on bond last Friday. He is due back in court this Friday for a pretrial hearing.
Ferguson’s attorneys denied that Ferguson had consumed alcohol, saying the monitoring system was triggered by the use of cortizone anti-itch cream and hand sanitizer gel containing alcohol. Hunter, however, called the argument a “ridiculous story.”
Hunter said the 73-year-old defendant had been warned not to consume any alcohol and had agreed to that provision in connection with his release on $1 million bail, noting that someone “died at the hands of Mr. Ferguson” and that “alcohol was involved.”
Ferguson is accused in the Aug. 3, 2023, shooting of his 65-year-old wife, Sheryl, at their Anaheim Hills home.
Ferguson’s attorney, Ed Welbourn, had argued in court papers that his client used the anti-itch cream and gel “on his skin under the ankle monitor to help ease the blistering, redness and swelling, which is what caused the ankle monitor to spike.”
Ferguson said in the court papers that he suffers from “intermittent symptoms associated with a chronic kidney failure condition that I have had for the past several years, that includes periods of lower leg edema and swelling from time to time.”
He noticed “mild swelling” in his legs the morning of Aug. 26, but it went away overnight, but by the next day the swelling returned and it made the ankle bracelet “snug,” Ferguson said.
The swelling ultimately progressed enough that the bracelet “was now deeply pressed into my left lower leg,” which led to “severe discomfort,” Ferguson said.
When he tried to adjust the bracelet for relief, he noticed it was “reddened” and his skin was “chafed and discolored,” he said.
He used the hand sanitizer to ward off infection, he said.
“I have not consumed alcohol for over a year, and I did not consume any alcohol on Aug. 28 and Aug. 29, 2024,” he said in court papers.
Prosecutors alleged he was intoxicated when he shot his wife.
Anaheim Police Department officers arrested Ferguson after they were called to his home in the 8500 block of East Canyon Vista Drive just after 8 p.m. Aug. 3, 2023, on reports of a shooting. Officers found his wife suffering from at least one gunshot wound inside the home, said Anaheim Police Sgt. Jonathan McClintock.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
In a bail motion last year, Deputy District Attorney Christopher Alex wrote that Ferguson shot his wife “through the chest in the living room of their home in Anaheim.”
The prosecutor alleged the judge used a “loaded 40-caliber pistol that he pulled from his ankle holster. He shot her at close range. He did so while intoxicated. His adult son witnessed the homicide.”
The dispute began earlier in the evening while the couple argued during a dinner at a restaurant near their home, Alex said.
Ferguson “pointed his finger at his wife in a manner mimicking a firearm,” Alex said, adding that the conflict continued at home “periodically” for about an hour.
Referring to the hand gesture at dinner, Sheryl Ferguson allegedly said moments before her husband opened fire “words to the effect of: `Why don’t you point a real gun at me?”‘ Alex alleged.
Ferguson “retrieved his pistol from his ankle holster and shot (his wife) center mass,” Alex alleged.
Ferguson’s son called 911 and the judge did so as well. When a dispatcher asked the judge if he shot his wife, he said he did not want to discuss that at the time and when asked again, he said she needed paramedics, Alex said.
Minutes later, Alex alleged, Ferguson sent a text message to his court clerk and bailiff, saying, “I just lost it. I just shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry.”
The clerk and bailiff assumed he was joking, Alex said.
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