A mistrial was declared Monday in the murder trial of a 74-year-old Orange County Superior Court judge accused of shooting his wife in their Anaheim Hills home, with jurors unable to break a deadlock on their eighth day of deliberations.
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The panel split 11-1 on a second-degree murder charge soon after resuming deliberations Monday morning in the trial of Jeffrey Ferguson, who is accused in Aug. 3, 2023, killing of his 65-year-old wife, Sheryl.
The panel had left early on Friday, telling the judge overseeing the case they were "exhausted."
Monday's resumption of deliberations did nothing to break the deadlock, and the mistrial was declared shortly after 11 a.m.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor Hunter will hold a hearing Thursday on how to proceed with an expected retrial, which could happen in April or May.
Hunter praised the jury for its "tremendous effort" before releasing the panel.
Defense attorney Cameron Talley praised prosecutors, saying they "knocked it out of the park," and said he plans to appeal to Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer to consider a plea bargain.
"He's lost his wife, he's a broken 74-year-old man with health problems," Talley said of his client.
Talley also noted Sheryl Ferguson's family members don't want the defendant to face murder charges.
Ferguson remains "very sad," but felt some relief regarding the mistrial, Talley said.
It is unclear whether Talley will remain on the case, saying it was up to Ferguson. Hunter said the defendant "has a habit of changing lawyers" so she wanted to know at Thursday's hearing whether Talley was remaining on the case.
Spitzer told reporters after the mistrial, which he said represented a victory for his office, that he would invite defendants who had cases heard by Ferguson to submit claims they may have been treated unfairly because the defendant admitted in his testimony he would sometimes drink alcohol while at lunch as he presided over cases in his Fullerton courtroom. It is possible some of those cases may be reopened, Spitzer said.
Spitzer said his office would meet with the victim's family members but indicated he would pursue another trial.
"Our prosecutors proved this case to 11 jurors," Spitzer said.
But Spitzer said he understood how the trial "brings out different emotions" for the victims' family members.
But, he added, "This is not a case you don't re-try."
Spitzer ridiculed Ferguson's claim that the tendons in his shoulder gave out and he triggered the gun while fumbling to recover control of it.
"It didn't slip, it didn't fall on the table," Spitzer said. "It's about getting justice for Sheryl, making sure she didn't die in vain and holding Mr. Ferguson accountable."
The victim "died in cold blood and we're going to get justice," Spitzer said.
Sheryl Ferguson's brother, Larry Rosen, told reporters that he believes it was an accident and the defendant should have been acquitted. He said his three other brothers believe in varying degrees of accountability but are united against second-degree murder.
Rosen said he was mainly concerned for the judge's son, Phillip.
"I'm Team Phillip on this," he said. "I'm going to do whatever it takes so he doesn't have to go through another trial."
Rosen said he would appeal to Spitzer to forego another trial for murder and instead offer a plea deal for a lesser offense. Rosen added that he went into the trial "neutral" but reached his conclusion after hearing the evidence.
The jury hang "shows it was conflicted as I am," Rosen said.
Rosen said he did not speak to his brother-in-law until after the case went to the jury.
His sister, he said, "was the glue who held us together" as a family.
"Losing her was devastating," he said.
"It was a tragedy," like a Shakespearean play, he added.
The couple was in the process of acquiring land in Texas to build a home on at the time of the shooting, Rosen said.
Ferguson is "absolutely remorseful," Rosen said. "He blames himself for causing this."
The judge has been creating graphic art images as a sort of therapy to work through his grief, Rosen said.
Friday, the jury sent Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor Hunter this note: "We are exhausted. We have further movement. Is it possible we can leave at lunch and return on Monday?"
Defense attorney Cameron Talley objected, saying he was concerned that over another weekend some jurors might be affected by outside sources. Hunter overruled him and let the jury go for the weekend.
On Thursday, the jury signaled for the second time it was at an impasse.
Hunter asked the panel Thursday afternoon how many votes they had taken and the forewoman said "several" as she did the previous time the jury was at an impasse. She said again there had been "movement" but they remained deadlocked, so Hunter asked them to go back to deliberations and discuss how they felt she could help them further.
The jury went back to deliberating and then left for the day just after 4 p.m. and returned again Friday morning.
The impasse came a day after Hunter allowed additional short arguments from the prosecutor and defense attorney.
The jury's first note Thursday reflected those arguments.
"Could we ask counsel for further clarification on what `deliberately acted with conscious disregard for human life' means?"
The note went on to explain the jury wanted to know if the defendant had the mental state "equivalent" to "I don't care if the person dies," apparently referring to the argument from Talley on Wednesday.
"Also, do we consider voluntary intoxication for this?" the note added. The jury wanted to know if the judge's level of intoxication applied to express malice murder and not implied malice murder.
Hunter referred the jurors to the section of the law they were given to answer their questions and reminded them that the arguments from lawyers were not evidence.
Later in the afternoon, the jury told the judge they were at an impasse, but went back to deliberations.
At about 42 hours, the jury now has been deliberating for longer than they heard evidence in the case.
Near the end of last Monday's deliberations, the jurors first signaled they were at an impasse on the second-degree murder charge against Ferguson.
The highly unusual move for more arguments came as jurors signaled in notes to the judge they were hung up on some of the language in the law about what constitutes a second-degree murder.
While the jurors are free to discuss both degrees of guilt in their deliberations, they must first acquit him of second-degree murder before they can vote on involuntary manslaughter.
Ferguson is charged with murder with sentencing enhancements for discharge of a gun causing death and the personal use of a gun. Jurors began deliberating about 2:35 p.m. Feb. 26 and continued each weekday since then.
During closing arguments Feb. 26, Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt told jurors, "You have been presented with evidence -- credible evidence -- he took out the gun, he was angry. He took the gun out, pointed at her and killed her."
Hunt said it was a "sad, tragic situation, but he (Ferguson) is still guilty of murder."
Hunt said Ferguson was also an expert on the law as a prosecutor of 30 years and nine years on the bench.
Hunt argued that a text message the judge sent to his bailiff and clerk minutes after the shooting was a "confession." In the text message, Ferguson said, "I just lost it. Just shot my wife. I won't be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I'm so sorry."
"He describes what he just did," Hunt said. "We all know what this means. He lost his temper and shot his wife."
The night of the shooting, the Fergusons and their son Phillip had gone to a restaurant, but Sheryl Ferguson stormed out for about 10 minutes after the defendant made a hand gesture of a gun during their dispute. Before the shooting later in their home, Phillip said he heard her say something to the effect of, "Why don't you point a real gun at me?"
Hunt played video of the son telling police later, "I turned around and he pulls out a gun and aims at her and fires."
Hunt ridiculed as "ridiculous" Ferguson's claim that his wife had asked him to put his ankle-holstered gun away, and that he fumbled it while trying to place it on a cluttered coffee table, causing it to discharge.
Phillip said his mother's last words were, "He shot me," Hunt noted. "They weren't `Gosh, what an accident."'
The prosecutor also disputed the judge's claim that his disabled shoulder caused him to fumble the gun, saying the defendant showed full use of his arm during police questioning. Hunt said the gun requires five pounds of pressure to depress the trigger. Doing that while fumbling with a gun in the air and then hitting the victim at "center mass" is "ludicrous," Hunt argued.
Ferguson's blood-alcohol level was 0.065 percent when it was measured seven hours after the shooting, Hunt said. An expert testified it was likely about 0.17 percent, or nearly twice the legal limit for driving, at the time of the shooting, Hunt noted.
Talley noted one detective's testimony about how far the casing from the gun's projectile would go if it were fired the way the prosecution theorized. But Talley said it was found right next to the coffee table, which was consistent with his theory of an accidental shooting.
Talley also argued that home surveillance video also indicated there was no muzzle flash, which was also consistent with an accidental misfire.
The bullet ripped through the victim's abdomen "slightly to the left" and exited the upper right of her back, which would match the angle of where the defendant said the gun misfired, Talley argued.
Talley also argued there was no evidence his client was angry, but, he said, he was attempting to make peace and end the conflict.
"The forensics are on the side of the defense, the autopsy is on the side of the defense and the science is on the side of the defense," Talley said.
There is no way to know for sure at what angle the defendant fired the gun, Hunt argued.
Ferguson and his wife had been bickering after the judge got home from work that afternoon and continued the argument as they went to the El Cholo Mexican restaurant near their home. Just before the shooting, Ferguson said he thought he heard his wife tell him to put his gun away, which confused him initially, but then he went to do it to appease her.
"I was trying to do what she asked me to do," he said. "I never pointed it in her direction."
Hunt suggested Ferguson could have gone upstairs and put the gun away as he routinely did each night before going to bed.
"I could have done a lot of things," Ferguson said.
Ferguson said it was difficult to lean forward to place the gun on the coffee table because of his girth at the time. He weighed 100 pounds more the night of the shooting.
The judge said that when he returned home from work the day of the shooting, he downed a 16-ounce beer and then a rum and Coke. Ferguson did not recall drinking an old fashioned during a work lunch break at a local restaurant until Hunt showed him a receipt. Ferguson said when he did drink on a lunch break from work it was one once or twice a week and it was usually a gin and tonic.
When asked if he was an alcoholic, the judge said, "I don't think I thought so. I drank too much and was in denial so I suppose I was."
He estimated he would drink three days of the week.
The trouble on the day of the shooting started when Sheryl Ferguson checked the mail and didn't see an expected thank you card from her husband's son from his prior marriage.
Kevin Ferguson, who was 37 at the time, had adopted a daughter who was a few months old earlier that summer and the judge, his wife and their son, Phillip, who was a senior at Southern Methodist University, visited them at their home in Highland Park.
The defendant and his wife would argue about financially aiding Kevin, the judge testified.
"What annoyed her was he didn't express his appreciation or gratitude," Jeffrey Ferguson testified. "Sheryl (also) had hopes that Kevin and Phillip would have a stronger family bond ... but Kevin never sent birthday cards to Phillip, or her or me ... but he would ask us to send cards to his wife."
So the dispute on the night of the shooting "was about not getting a thank you card" 10 days after Kevin Ferguson had received $2,000 from the couple and promised to send a card, the judge testified.
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