California judge claims it was ‘an accident’ when he shot wife dead during drunken argument
A California judge accused of fatally capturing his wife during an argument whereas he was drunk has claimed her killing was an accident.
Orange County Superior Court docket Judge Jeffrey Ferguson is free on a $1m bail and should put on an digital monitoring bracelet within the state’s Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties after pleading not responsible in court docket.
The 72-year-old judge was arrested on 3 August within the prosperous Anaheim Hills neighbourhood 45 miles southeast of Los Angeles after his grownup son known as the police. When officers arrived on the house they discovered his wife, Sheryl Ferguson, dead from at the least one gunshot wound.
Prosecutors say that the couple started arguing at a restaurant and that the combat between them continued when they obtained again to their house, reported CBS News.
Court docket papers state that the judge made a threatening hand gesture in the direction of his wife “indicative of pointing a gun at” her.
Investigators say that hIs wife replied one thing alongside the strains of “Why don’t you level an actual gun at me?” And the judge allegedly pulled out a Glock 0.40 pistol from an ankle holster and shot her within the chest.
Court docket filings say that their son and Judge Ferguson known as 911, and the judge additionally texted his court docket clerk and bailiff admitting he had shot his wife.
Investigators take away firearms from a home within the 8500 block of E Canyon Vista Drive in Anaheim
(AP)
“I simply misplaced it. I simply shot my wife. I received’t be in tomorrow. I shall be in custody. I’m so sorry,” the submitting states he texted.
Following his arrest he was arraigned in Los Angeles after state officers have been requested to resolve if there was a battle of curiosity in him being handled by courts in Orange County,
His subsequent court docket listening to is scheduled for 30 October.
The suspect has been a judge since 2015 after starting his profession within the Orange County district legal professional’s workplace in 1983.
He and his wife have been married in 1996 and have two grownup sons, in line with CBS Los Angeles.
