A Southern California judge has been arrested on suspicion of murder after his wife was shot dead inside their Anaheim Hills home, police said Friday.
Cops responded just after 8 p.m. Thursday to the home of Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, 72, where they found his 65-year-old wife Sheryl had been shot at least once, the Anaheim Police Department said
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The judge was taken into custody on suspicion of murder and held on $1 million bail, police said, saying he was arrested “without incident.”
“Detectives are not disclosing any additional details at this time because the investigation is ongoing,” cops said.
Two sources told the LA Times that a child of the couple was inside the home when police arrived.
Ferguson began his legal career in 1983 as an Orange County deputy district attorney, according to his bio.
“He was promoted to Senior Deputy District Attorney, and posted to the Major Narcotics Enforcement Team a decade later,” it says. “Ferguson has been named prosecutor of the year four times by the Orange County Narcotics Officers Association.”
The judge earned his degree in 1982 from Western State College of Law.
As a judge, he was reprimanded in 2017 by the state Commission on Judicial Performance for making an inappropriate comment about a judicial candidate on Facebook and remaining “friends” on the social media platform with attorneys appearing before him in court, the Orange County Register reported.
The commission found that Ferguson violated the code of judicial ethics by posting a comment “with knowing or reckless disregard for the truth of the statement,” according to the outlet.
Ferguson wrote in his bio that his wife had worked for the Santa Barbara and Orange County Probation Departments before spending almost 20 years with the American Funds Service Co.
A neighbor who did not want to be identified told KTLA that the couple had lived in the home for more than 20 years.
He said he saw Ferguson being taken away in handcuffs and that cops told him that Sheryl was the victim.
The Post reached out to the Anaheim Police Department on Friday.
