Dispatched to a capturing at the Anaheim residence of a longtime Orange County decide, police discovered Jeffrey Ferguson sitting on a planter.
“Simply shoot me,” Ferguson informed the officer who approached with a less-than-lethal shotgun educated on the decide.
Witnesses recounted the scene at Ferguson’s residence at a preliminary listening to Thursday, the place a decide dominated there was possible trigger to imagine that Ferguson had murdered his spouse, Sheryl, after they bickered over cash at dinner in August.
The Fergusons’ 22-year-old son, Phillip, known as 911 round 8 p.m. Aug. 3 to report that his father had simply shot his mom, Anaheim cops testified on the listening to.
Standing in handcuffs outdoors his residence that night whereas officers tried to revive his spouse inside, Ferguson let off a string of expletives earlier than saying, “What did I do? My son will hate me endlessly,” testified Officer Joshua Juntilla of the Anaheim Police Division.
“Can you’ve gotten my son come over right here and punch me within the face?” the officer mentioned Ferguson requested. “I deserve it. I acquired all the things I acquired coming.”
Crying, his breath smelling of alcohol, Ferguson apologized to his son, who had witnessed the murder, and requested whether or not his spouse was lifeless, Juntilla testified. The officer recalled Ferguson saying he was similar to the criminals he as soon as prosecuted as an Orange County deputy district lawyer.
Contained in the Fergusons’ residence, police discovered Sheryl mendacity face up close to a sliding glass door, shot as soon as within the stomach. A Glock handgun was on the kitchen’s tile ground. Within the cluttered household room was an overturned leather-based chair, a bullet lodged at the back of it with blood across the entry level. A single cartridge casing lay on the carpet.
Anaheim Police Det. Michael Nguyen interviewed Phillip that evening on the police station. He wore pajama bottoms, a T-shirt and no footwear; his fingers have been coated in dried blood from attempting to revive his mom, Nguyen mentioned.
In line with the detective, earlier that night Phillip had gone together with his father and mom to dinner at El Cholo, the place his mother and father resumed their perennial argument about cash. His father had made his hand into the form of a gun and pointed it at his mom, who walked out of the restaurant, the youthful Ferguson informed investigators. The three of them then returned residence and watched “Breaking Dangerous” collectively within the household room, as they did each evening.
After the episode ended, his mom began arguing once more about cash. Phillip acquired as much as depart. As he reached the rear sliding door, he heard his mom say, “Why don’t you level an actual gun at me?”
Phillip turned and noticed his father holding the .40-caliber Glock he at all times carried in an ankle holster. With out saying a phrase, his father shot his mom, he mentioned. Phillip jumped over a sofa and wrestled the gun from his father, considering he would possibly use it to kill himself, he informed police. Ferguson then informed Phillip to name 911.
Phillip mentioned his mother and father had fought typically in regards to the household’s funds, however the arguments had by no means earlier than turned bodily. He believed Ferguson could have shot his mom in a drunken accident, noting his father had fired a bullet a number of years earlier via the tile ground a WC. Police seized 47 weapons and greater than 26,000 rounds of ammunition from the residence, prosecutors mentioned on the time of the decide’s arrest.
On the finish of Thursday’s listening to, Ferguson’s lawyer T. Edward Welbourn requested Superior Court docket Decide Eleanor Hunter to dismiss the homicide cost, noting his shopper’s son — the one eyewitness to the murder — mentioned he believed it was an accident.
Hunter disagreed. “Whereas I respect the son’s opinion that this was unintentional — bless his coronary heart — he’s in a horrible place,” she mentioned. Hunter mentioned the proof confirmed that Ferguson understood the hazard inherent in pointing a gun at one other particular person.
Hunter, who heard the case in Los Angeles as a result of conflicts posed by Ferguson’s ties to the bench in Orange County, dominated she’d seen sufficient proof for Ferguson to face trial for homicide.
Ferguson stays free on $1-million bail with GPS and alcohol monitoring restrictions.
