California judge charged in wife’s death is arrested on suspicion of drinking alcohol while on bail

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California judge charged with killing his wife was taken back into custody Tuesday after the judge overseeing his criminal case contended that he lied about drinking alcohol while out on bail.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson’s new bail was set at $2 million and he was placed in handcuffs and led out of the courtroom after a hearing about whether he had violated his prior bail conditions.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter said if Ferguson is able to pay the new bail, he will be barred from attending any establishment that serves alcohol.

“I hate it when people lie to me,” Hunter said. “Let’s not forget — this is a murder case.”

Ferguson, 73, was previously out on $1 million bail. He is charged with the murder of his wife last year and has pleaded not guilty.

Ferguson was required to wear a GPS and alcohol monitor on his ankle as a condition of his prior bail — a condition that will remain if he makes bail again.

The monitor registered that he had been drinking alcohol in late August. Ferguson told the court he had applied hand sanitizer and other medication to try to alleviate ankle swelling, which Hunter said was a “ridiculous story.”

Ferguson’s attorney, Ed Welbourn, declined to comment immediately after the hearing. In court, Welbourn had asked the judge to consider less restrictive options due to Ferguson’s health issues.

“Is he a danger to society? The answer to that is no,” Welbourn told the court. “The court knows his background. He’s not a danger to anybody.”

Prosecutor Seton Hunt said during the hearing that it was clear Ferguson had violated bail conditions. He declined to comment after Tuesday’s hearing.

Ferguson was arrested in August 2023 after police found his wife, Sheryl Ferguson, shot to death. Prosecutors said the couple had been arguing and Ferguson drinking when he pulled a pistol from an ankle holster and shot her in the chest.

Ferguson and his son called 911, and Ferguson texted his court clerk and bailiff saying: “I just lost it. I just shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry,” according to prosecutors’ court filings.

Authorities said they later found 47 weapons, including the pistol, and more than 26,000 rounds of ammunition at Ferguson’s home.

Ferguson was released on a lengthy list of bail conditions, including that he wear the alcohol monitor. Shaun Stewart, who works for the manufacturer of the anklet, testified in court on Tuesday that the device takes a sample of sweat vapor every 30 minutes and measures for the presence of alcohol. He said hand sanitizer and medication don’t typically trigger the device, but when they do the measurements are not consistent with those of someone who drinks.

Stewart said his company applies a series of criteria to determine whether an alcohol reading indicates someone has actually been drinking and the client is given the benefit of the doubt.

“Normal use of hand sanitizer on the hands would not produce any type of alcohol reading on the bracelet,” Stewart told the court. “I can say this is a confirmed consumption.”

The reading was generated on two days at the end August. Ferguson told the court he had not been drinking on those days, but had gone out to lunch with two Orange County judges on one of the days, and didn’t believe they had been drinking either, Hunter said.

Ferguson has been a judge since 2015. He started his legal career in the Orange County district attorney’s office in 1983, and served as president of the North Orange County Bar Association from 2012 to 2014.

He was admonished by the Commission on Judicial Performance in 2017 for posting a statement on Facebook about a judicial candidate “with knowing or reckless disregard for the truth of the statement.”

Ferguson and his wife married in 1996.

The arrest shocked the Southern California legal community. The district attorney’s office in Orange County, which is home to 3 million people, is trying the case but hearings are being held before a Los Angeles County judge to avoid a conflict.

Ferguson is due back in court for a pre-trial hearing on Nov. 1.

Amy Taxin, The Associated Press