Drunk Judge Made a Gun-Like Hand Gesture Toward His Wife. Then He Watched Breaking Bad, and Shot Her for Real By Christina Coulter 25

A California judge who once sentenced defendants from the bench will now serve time himself: 35 years to life in prison for fatally shooting his wife after a drunken argument over money.

Jeffrey Ferguson, 74, was convicted in April of second-degree murder with gun enhancements for the 2023 killing of his wife, Sheryl, 65, PEOPLE previously reported.

Prosecutors said the couple argued about family finances at a Mexican restaurant on Aug. 3, 2023, where Ferguson, then an Orange County Superior Court judge, made a gun-like hand gesture at her.

The dispute continued later at their Anaheim Hills home, where Ferguson pulled a pistol from an ankle holster and shot Sheryl once in the chest at close range while they watched Breaking Bad.

Immediately afterward, his son called 911, and Ferguson texted his court clerk and bailiff: “I just lost it. I just shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry,” a message jurors were shown. When officers arrived, Ferguson smelled of alcohol and was wearing an empty ankle holster, per previous PEOPLE reporting.

At sentencing, Ferguson’s son Phillip testified that both he and his mother had worried about Ferguson’s drinking but that he had never felt endangered by it. He also noted that his parents argued but loved each other and laughed together, per the New York Times.

He added that he ultimately believed the shooting was not intentional. “I cannot draw any other conclusion than that my mother’s death had been accidental,” Phillip said, according to the outlet. “If I harbored any doubts of this in my mind, I could not stand to look my father in the eye, nor to hug him, nor to even call him my father.”

Ferguson also addressed the court, insisting he had not meant to fire the gun. He called the shooting a “horrific accident” and expressed grief for his son and Sheryl’s brothers.

“I have enormous grief not for myself alone but for my son, Phillip, and Sheryl’s brothers. For me, Sheryl didn’t die just once, Aug. 3, 2023. She dies again and again every morning I wake up,” he said, according to the Times. “I wish God had taken me instead.”

Sheryl’s brother, Larry Rosen, asked Judge Eleanor J. Hunter for leniency, telling the court the family had already suffered enough.

“My nephew has lost his mom and you are going to take away his dad,” Rosen said, per the Associated Press. “I understand there is culpability but I don’t think it is to the level that’s been raised here.”

Hunter — a Los Angeles Superior Court judge assigned to avoid conflicts in Orange County — described the evidence as “absolutely overwhelming,” according to AP. She also said Ferguson “knew that he should not handle a gun while drinking and angry,” but “doesn’t pay attention to the rules” and “doesn’t believe the rules apply to him,” per the Times.

Prosecutors countered Ferguson’s claims it was an accident, the Times reported, arguing that after an evening of drinking and arguing, he intentionally pointed the gun and pulled the trigger.

Authorities later recovered 48 weapons and more than 26,000 rounds of ammunition from Ferguson’s home, the Times reported.

Ferguson was suspended without pay following his conviction but has not yet been formally removed from the bench, though that step is expected now that sentencing has taken place, per the Times, citing Kimberly Edds, a spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

An initial jury deadlocked in March after deliberating for days, forcing a mistrial, People previously reported. Prosecutors retried the case and a second jury returned April’s guilty verdict.