A California judge accused in the murder of his wife could have his bail revoked after his ankle monitor detected potential alcohol in his system, which he reportedly blamed on treatment for a medical condition.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, 73, is free on $1 million bail with a requirement to wear a GPS monitor as he faces charges in the death of his wife, Sheryl Ferguson, 65, prosecutors said.
At a court hearing this week, prosecutors informed Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter that Ferguson’s ankle monitor alerted for an alcohol detection twice, on Aug. 28 and 29 — once with a reading of .14%, nearly twice the legal limit for driving, according to Southern California News Group reporters Sean Emery and Tony Saavedra, reporting on the court hearing on Thursday in Los Angeles County.
The defendant denied drinking, blaming a health condition that led to swelling of his legs. He said it had gotten bad, exacerbating the pain from the ankle monitor before Labor Day, the reporters wrote. He said he treated the swelling with cream and sanitizer, and the ankle monitor could have come up with a false positive.
But Judge Hunter didn’t buy the claim and upbraided the defendant, saying she would have hoped that he would have admitted to “being human” and making a mistake, the news outlet reported. Hunter continued the matter until Sept. 20 to allow for time to receive hair sample tests and details about the ankle monitoring data.
The series of events leading to the alleged murder began at dinner on the evening of Aug. 3, 2023, when the couple started arguing at a restaurant and Ferguson mimicked pointing a gun at her with his finger. When they got home, the argument continued, authorities said.
At one point, Sheryl Ferguson referred to her husband’s earlier hand gesture at the restaurant, uttering, “Why don’t you point a real gun at me?” just before an allegedly intoxicated Jeffrey Ferguson pulled his Glock .40-caliber pistol from his ankle holster and shot her in the chest in front of their son in their Anaheim Hills home, Law&Crime previously reported, citing a bail motion filing from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
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