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VOL. 12,
NO. 177
Orange County judge ordered to stand trial in wife’s shooting death
LA County board to consider putting homelessness measure on November ballot
By Terri Vermeulen Keith, City News Service
By City News Service
A
n Orange County Superior Court judge who allegedly admitted killing his wife was ordered Thursday to stand trial on a murder charge stemming from her shooting during an argument at their Anaheim Hills home. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter rejected a defense motion to dismiss the case against Jeffrey Ferguson, who is charged in the Aug. 3, 2023, killing of his 65-yearold wife Sheryl. Defense attorney T. Edward Welbourn argued that there was insufficient evidence to require his client to stand trial on the murder charge, noting that the only eyewitness — one of the couple’s sons — told police that he felt the shooting was accidental. The case was moved to Los Angeles County because of Ferguson’s ties with the Orange County court system. The hearing in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom included testimony from three Anaheim police officers and a police detective who responded to the scene after one of the couple’s sons called 911 to report the shooting. Officer Andrew Compton said Ferguson spontaneously said, “I just killed my wife,” after he was taken that night to the Anaheim Police Department’s headquarters. Two other officers, Brandon Lander and Joshua Juntilla, testified that Ferguson had told police, “Shoot me,” while he was outside the family’s home. Juntilla — who said he smelled an odor of alcohol emanating from Ferguson — testified that the defendant spontaneously said, “What did I do? My son will hate
Judge Jeffrey Feguson accompanied by his wife Sheryl takes the Superior Court oath. | Photo courtesy of Orange County
me forever. Can you have my son come over ... and punch me in the face because I deserve it.” He described Ferguson’s demeanor as “shock” and “regret,” and said he remembered seeing tears from Ferguson’s eyes and eventually informed him that his wife was dead after Ferguson had repeatedly asked about her condition. Anaheim Police Det. Michael Nguyen said he spoke three times with the couple’s son, Phillip, who described his parents as routinely having verbal arguments that had never been physical. The police detective said the couple’s son accompanied his mother and father to dinner that night at a Mexican restaurant, where the couple verbally argued. He said his father “made a hand gesture in the shape of a gun” and “pointed it at his
mother,” who then walked out of the restaurant. When the family got home from dinner, they proceeded to watch the TV series “Breaking Bad” and the argument resumed, the couple’s son told police. The detective said the couple’s son — who was getting ready to go outside through a sliding glass door — told police that he heard his mother say something like “Why don’t you point a real gun at me?” and that he saw his father holding a firearm in his right hand that immediately went off. The couple’s son said he jumped over the couch to pin his father’s hand and get the gun away from him after the shooting because he was worried his father might hurt himself, according to the detective. See Judge on trial Page 28
The couple’s son told police that he felt “alcohol may have played a role” in what happened. “He said his father told him to call 911,” the detective said, noting that the last thing the couple’s son heard his mother say was, “He shot me.” Under cross-examination, the detective said the couple’s son said he had never seen his father make a hand gesture to his mother like the one he made at dinner that night and that he described his father as very safe with his weapons. During at least one interview with police, the couple’s son described his father as being a “terrible shot” and said he felt that his father had shot his mother by accident. He said one of the reasons the couple’s son thought it may have been accidental was because his father “never shoots onehanded,” the detective testified, noting that the couple’s son described going to the shooting range with his father. Lander testified that he went inside the house after Ferguson was detained, and found the woman on her back near the rear sliding glass door, noticed blood on her chest area and pulled her away from the confined area in an attempt to render aid. “Did any of it appear to be working?” prosecutor Seton Hunt asked. “No,” the officer responded. “Medics came and they pronounced her deceased.” He said he saw a chair or couch tipped over, but didn’t get close enough to notice any damage. Nguyen, who went inside
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he Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors next week will consider placing on the November ballot an initiative that would repeal the county’s quartercent sales tax for homelessness-prevention measures and replace it with an indefinite half-cent sales tax to be used for the same purpose. Last Tuesday, the county Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office announced that backers of the Affordable Housing, Homelessness Solutions and Prevention Now measure had collected enough valid signatures to get the initiative on the ballot. Supporters of the measure said last month they submitted more than 410,000 petition signatures, well above the required 238,922. With signatures verified, the issue will move to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. The board will have the choice of immediately placing the initiative on the November ballot or requesting a full report on the measure, which would be brought back within 30 days to the board, which will then place the measure on the ballot. The proposed ballot measure would repeal Measure H, a quarter-cent sales tax approved by county voters in 2017, and replace it with a half-cent sales tax to create a dedicated stream of revenue to address homelessness. Measure H had a 10-year lifespan, meaning it is set to expire in 2027. The new proposed measure, if approved by voters, would not have a sunset date. Backers say the new initiative would be a game changer for the county and its approach to addressing the homelessness crisis. Proponents have said the measure would produce $1.2 billion annually. The coalition of support-
Photo by Edmond Dantès
ers includes more than 80 organizations such as the LA County Federation of Labor, California Community Foundation, United Way of Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles/ Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, SEIU 721, among others. They aim to focus more funding generated by the halfcent sales tax to build more affordable housing, increase access to mental health and substance abuse treatment, and bolster accountability measures — including a legal requirement to deliver results. The proposed ballot measure notes that 60% of the revenue would cover costs for homelessness services and 15% of that would be distributed to cities based on the annual point-in-time count of homeless people. Another 35.75% would support the L.A. County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, which was created last year by the state Legislature to oversee homeless solutions. “We need to fundamentally change how we approach our homelessness and housing crisis, and this measure does that by focusing on mental health care, housing affordability and legal requirements that we see results,” Miguel Santana, CEO of the California Community Foundation and a former Los Angeles city administrative officer, said in a statement.