Muri Assunção
New York Daily News
(TNS)
A Southern California judge has been arrested for the fatal shooting of his wife, authorities said Friday.
Orange County Superior Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, 72, was arrested without incident late Thursday night.
Anaheim Police officers received reports just after 8 p.m. of a shooting at an Anaheim Hills home, which property records show belong to the judge and his wife.
When homicide detectives arrived at the scene, they found Ferguson’s wife, 65-year-old Sheryl Ferguson, inside the residence suffering from at least one gunshot wound, police said Friday in a news release. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers then contacted the suspect at the location and arrested him. He was booked into the police’s detention facility in lieu of $1 million bail, police said.
Ferguson, who began his legal career in 1983 as an Orange County deputy district attorney, was elected in June 2014 to serve as a judge of the Superior Court of Orange County in Fullerton, Calif.
During his time at the attorney’s office, Ferguson prosecuted drug cases as part of the Major Narcotics Enforcement Team.
According to the North Orange County Bar Association, he was named prosecutor of the year four times by the Orange County Narcotics Officers Association.
Anaheim police released a photo of the judge in an orange suit but declined to disclose “any additional details at this time because the investigation is ongoing,” according to the news release.
Orange County Superior Court also released a statement Friday morning acknowledging the incident but declining to provide any additional information.
“Hon. Jeffrey Ferguson has been arrested and booked under Penal Code section 187, as a result of an incident that took place at a residence within the city of Anaheim,” the court said.
“Although no case has been filed with our Court, when appropriate we will take all necessary steps to ensure full compliance with our legal and ethical obligations,” Maria Hernandez, the court’s presiding judge, said in a statement.
Some of the judge’s colleagues expressed shock at the allegations and said they weren’t aware of issues between Ferguson and his wife.
“I had them sit on my couch,” one person told the Los Angeles Times on the condition of anonymity. “I would never have thought this for a minute.”
With News Wire Services
©2023 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
