Drunk Judge Made a Gun-Like Hand Gesture Toward His Wife. Then He Watched Breaking Bad, and Shot Her for Real

A California judge who once sentenced others will now serve time in prison himself: 35 years to life for fatally shooting his wife after a drunken argument about money.

Jeffrey Ferguson, 74, was found guilty in April of second-degree murder with gun enhancements for the 2023 killing of his wife, Sheryl, 65, PEOPLE previously reported.

Prosecutors said the couple argued about family finances at a Mexican restaurant on August 3, 2023. Ferguson, who was then an Orange County Superior Court judge, made a gun-like hand gesture at his wife during the dispute.

The argument continued later at their Anaheim Hills home, where Ferguson pulled a pistol from an ankle holster and shot Sheryl once in the chest while they were watching Breaking Bad.

Immediately afterward, his son called 911. Ferguson also texted his court clerk and bailiff: “I just lost it. I just shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry,” a message jurors saw. When officers arrived, Ferguson smelled of alcohol and his ankle holster was empty, according to PEOPLE.

At sentencing, Ferguson’s son, Phillip, testified that both he and his mother had worried about Ferguson’s drinking but that he never felt in danger. He added that although his parents argued, they loved each other and laughed together, according to the New York Times.

Phillip said he believed the shooting was not intentional. “I cannot draw any other conclusion than that my mother’s death had been accidental,” he said. “If I harbored any doubts, I could not look my father in the eye or call him my father.”

Ferguson spoke to the court, saying he had not meant to fire the gun. He called the shooting a “horrific accident” and expressed grief for his son and Sheryl’s brothers.

“I have enormous grief not just for myself but for my son, Phillip, and Sheryl’s brothers. For me, Sheryl didn’t die just once, Aug. 3, 2023. She dies again and again every morning I wake up,” he said, according to the Times. “I wish God had taken me instead.”

Sheryl’s brother, Larry Rosen, asked Judge Eleanor J. Hunter for leniency, saying the family had already suffered enough.

“My nephew has lost his mom and you are going to take away his dad,” Rosen said, according to the Associated Press. “I understand there is culpability but I don’t think it is to the level that’s been raised here.”

Hunter, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge assigned to avoid conflicts in Orange County, described the evidence as “absolutely overwhelming,” according to AP. She also said Ferguson “knew that he should not handle a gun while drinking and angry,” but “doesn’t pay attention to the rules” and “doesn’t believe the rules apply to him,” per the Times.

Prosecutors argued that the shooting was intentional, saying that after a night of drinking and arguing, Ferguson pointed the gun and pulled the trigger, according to the Times.

Authorities later recovered 48 weapons and more than 26,000 rounds of ammunition from Ferguson’s home, the Times reported.

Ferguson was suspended without pay after his conviction. He has not yet been formally removed from the bench, but that step is expected now that sentencing has taken place, according to the Times, citing Kimberly Edds, a spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

An earlier jury deadlocked in March after several days of deliberation, resulting in a mistrial, People previously reported. Prosecutors retried the case, and a second jury returned the guilty verdict in April.