California judge arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife, bails out of jail

An Orange County Superior Court judge was arrested Thursday night on suspicion of murdering his wife at their Anaheim Hills home, leaving the county’s legal community reeling in disbelief.

After spending the night in jail, Judge Jeffrey Ferguson was released Friday afternoon on $1 million bail, as neighbors talked of seeing the 72-year-old judge previously being taken into custody by a swarm of heavily armed police outside his house in the 8500 block of East Canyon Vista Drive.

Anaheim officers had been called around 8 p.m. Thursday and found Sheryl Ferguson, 65, fatally shot inside the two-story home, Sgt. Jon McClintock said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Their college-age son was home at the time, multiple sources said, and made the 911 call.

Ferguson’s murder arrest, a rarity in the legal world, created some thorny issues for the local justice system, such as whether the state or the county would handle the prosecution. Where would the case be tried?

Also, since Ferguson had not been formally charged as of Friday afternoon, prosecutors did not have a chance prior to his release to ask a judge to order Ferguson held without bail, or perhaps to increase the amount of his bail.

The felony bail schedule in OC Superior Court automatically sets $1 million for most murder cases. The exception is murder cases with special circumstances, such as lying in wait, which default to no bail.

Detectives late Friday were not disclosing any additional details because the investigation is ongoing, McClintock said.

Also see: Judge admonished for Facebook comment, friendships with defense attorneys

Investigators continued searching the couple’s home Friday and brought out more than a dozen guns as well as other boxes, including some with ammunition, and bags of evidence. McClintock said investigators found the gun believed to have been used in the shooting.

Russell Ventura, a 17-year-old neighbor, remembered police helicopters the night before ordering Ferguson to get on the ground and on his knees. Gun lasers were pointed at the judge and former prosecutor.

“I didn’t know what was about to happen,” he said. But  I  remember him saying, like, shouting loudly that he was unarmed.”

Ventura said police continued to shout commands, telling Ferguson to get down on his knees, but the judge refused to comply.  “He was like, “No, I’m not gonna get on my knees but I’m unarmed’.”

The thought that Ferguson could have criminally killed his wife conflicted with his reputation in some circles as a compassionate judge concerned with the welfare of defendants in alcohol and drug abuse cases.

Attorney Lloyd Freeberg said he worked with Ferguson in helping substance abusers get clean and sober — Freeberg from the defense chair and Ferguson from the bench at the courthouse in Fullerton.

The two had become so close that Freeberg cried all night after hearing of Ferguson’s arrest and the death of his wife.

“This is a great loss. I’ve shed an awful lot of tears on this one,” Freeberg said. “He saved a hell of a lot of people by getting them clean and sober and making them play by the rules.”

Freeberg’s former clients as well as legal professionals were shocked by the news.

“This morning I went to North Court and had to turn around and leave, it was so emotional,” Freeberg said. “It was pretty devastating, a lot of people were stunned. They’re pretty troubled by it.”

Defense attorney James Crawford added, “I think everybody is shocked. There’s no reason to believe that something like this could happen involving Jeff. There’s no signs.”

“I’m really sad about Jeff.”

Crawford said he once had a drug case against Ferguson, who was a prosecutor at the time.”I thought he was fair and easy to deal with,” Crawford said. “He was straightforward and wouldn’t try to jam you if you weren’t ready to proceed.”

Joel Garson, a veteran Orange County attorney, met Sheryl Ferguson when their sons were in the same Boy Scout troop. Garson was the scout leader; Sheryl’s son rose to the level of Eagle Scout.

Sheryl Ferguson was an especially active parent in the troop, Garson said, always volunteering and helping organize functions.

“She always had a smile on her face, always volunteered, never had a mean thing to say about anybody,” Garson said. “She was concerned about not only her son but also other boys in the troop.”

Even after her son left for college, Sheryl Ferguson continued to occasionally show up to troop functions, Garson said, including a recent event honoring one of the Boy Scout leaders.

“Everyone I know is shocked this happened,” Garson said.

Retired Buena Park Police Chief Corey Sianez and his wife Genieve Sianez, who are neighbors and friends of the Fergusons, placed flowers outside of the family’s home pn Friday afternoon.

Sianez, who worked for the Buena Park Police Department for 42 years, including a dozen years as chief before retiring in 2022, said he has known Jeffrey Ferguson for years, first as a deputy district attorney and later as a judge.

He said the Fergusons attended a Neighborhood Watch meeting he sponsored about two months ago. There didn’t appear to be any noticeable friction between the couple, he added.

Ferguson was always calm and funny, while Sheryl Ferguson seemed supportive of her husband, Sianez said. “It’s pretty shocking,” he said. ” Why did he (Ferguson) do this? He had a good life.”

Hours before the shooting, the judge re-posted a 2013 photo of his wife on his Facebook page.

Before rising to the bench in 2015, Ferguson was an Orange County deputy district attorney for 31 years, joining the office in 1983, according to his campaign biography.

As a prosecutor, he worked his way up from the juvenile court to being named senior deputy district attorney, assigned to the Major Narcotics Enforcement Team. He also led the Probation Offender Search and Seizure Enforcement task force, comprised of 30 separate state and local police agencies.

As a judge, Ferguson was publicly admonished in 2017 by the state Commission on Judicial Performance for making an inappropriate comment about a judicial candidate on Facebook and remaining Facebook “friends” with attorneys appearing before him in court.

The panel found that Ferguson violated the code of judicial ethics by posting a comment “with knowing or reckless disregard for the truth of the statement.”

In his campaign biography, Ferguson said his wife previously worked for both the Santa Barbara and Orange County probation departments and then for American Funds Service Company for almost 20 years.

Where he will make his first court appearance, if he is charged with a crime, is unclear. Orange County’s presiding judge can decide to transfer the case outside of the county if that jurist decides a conflict of interest exists.

It was also unclear who would likely prosecute the case.

On Friday, Orange County prosecutors were coordinating with the State Attorney General’s Office to determine who would take the potential case against Ferguson.

“Our thoughts go to the family,” Orange County Superior Court Presiding Judge Maria Hernandez said in a statement. “We all pray for their comfort during this trying time.

“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,” she said.

Attorney Freeberg said Jeff and Sheryl Ferguson appeared to be a “match,” with her often accompanying him at professional and social events.

“I think there is a lot to the story we don’t know.”

Reporter Nathaniel Percy and photographer Paul Bersebach contributed to this report.