SANTA ANA (CNS) - Jurors in the trial of an Orange County Superior Court judge accused of fatally shooting his wife in their Anaheim Hills home are scheduled Thursday to deliberate for the seventh day, one day after hearing additional arguments from attorneys.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor Hunter, who is presiding over the case, allowed the short arguments from the prosecutor and defense attorney with jurors at an impasse.

Near the end of Monday's deliberations, the jurors first signaled they were at an impasse on the second-degree murder charge against Jeffrey Ferguson for the Aug. 3, 2023, death of his 65-year-old wife, Sheryl. The panel could convict the 74-year-old Ferguson of second-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter, or acquit him altogether.

Hunter limited Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt to 10 minutes of argument, plus a few more minutes of rebuttal, and defense attorney Cameron Talley 10 minutes.

The move 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.

Talley objected to the new rounds of arguments and added if they were going forward he needed to have more room to argue reasonable doubt. Hunter responded, "This is not a re-argument -- it's a supplement."

Hunt told the jurors Wednesday it was an implied malice case, meaning it was not legally required that he prove the defendant intended to kill his wife.

"For implied malice murder it's required he did an act that was inherently dangerous to human life and acted with conscious disregard for human life," Hunt said.

The act of pulling out the gun while intoxicated during an argument was enough to reach second-degree murder, Hunt argued.

Hunt equated it to a previously convicted drunken driver getting behind the wheel after being warned he could be charged with murder if involved in a deadly collision while intoxicated. During the trial, Ferguson even recounted the advisement drunk drivers get when they are convicted of DUI that if they get caught again and someone is killed they face an upgraded charge from manslaughter to murder.

Hunt pointed out that during questioning Ferguson himself compared his plight to a drunken driver.

"He likens himself as a trained lawyer and judge to a drunken driver who killed someone," Hunt said. "He views himself as that person."

Hunt also argued that after Ferguson pulled the gun from his ankle holster and he attempted to place it on an empty part of the coffee table he "couldn't be bothered to move some (TV) remotes" aside instead. Ferguson testified that his injured shoulder gave out as he was reaching over the coffee table to set the weapon down, which caused him to fumble the gun, which fired as he attempted to recover control of it.

"He takes out this gun while intoxicated and can't be bothered to move some remotes aside," Hunt said. "That is inherently dangerous to human life ... He is handling a gun and pointing it at another human being ... He's a gun expert. He understands the dangers, so he had that conscious disregard."

Talley responded, "The government got it wrong again."

Talley argued that the prosecutor had to show the shooting was an intentional act that was dangerous to human life and that the act posed a high probably it would lead to a death.

"The government got it right when they said he's an expert. He took the gun out of his holster and it's pointed at the ground," Talley said.

Ferguson was holding the gun in a safe manner as instructed and "never pointed it at Sheryl Ferguson," Talley said. "He fumbled the gun."

Ferguson was missing three out of four tendons in his shoulder and when he leaned over to put the gun down he testified he felt a "shooting pain" and lost control of the weapon and it fired as he was trying to regain control of it.

Talley said the prosecution had to show the defendant did something dangerous and didn't care what happened.

"You have to show you don't care if somebody gets killed," Talley argued.

Talley argued against involuntary manslaughter, which requires a lawful act done in an illegal way that leads to a death through criminal negligence.

"This is closer, but it's still not guilty," Talley said.

Talley argued, "We know it was an accident" from the pathway of the bullet through the victim. He also noted there was no "flash muzzle" seen on the home surveillance video that would indicate a deliberate pulling of the trigger.

"His mindset has to be he knew he could kill someone but didn't care," Talley said. "It's not guilty all day long."

Hunt replied in his rebuttal that Talley did not address the defendant's level of drunkenness that evening while handling the gun.

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 last Thursday and Friday.

During closing arguments last week, 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.

"That puts him in a unique position as a defendant -- he knows how to answer certain questions, and how to evade others," Hunt said.

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 argued that the prosecution's theory is "flawed due to a fundamental misunderstanding of how guns work."

Talley noted how Hunt referred to loading bullets in the gun during the trial when the weapon uses magazines. Talley also said the pathway of the bullet disproves any legal theory that Ferguson's arm was crooked at a 45- degree angle.

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.

"He's not mad," Talley said. "Where's this drunken rage coming from?"

Talley accused Hunt of attempting to have it both ways with two separate legal theories of second-degree murder of expressed malice, which requires intent to kill, and implied malice, which does not require intent.

The defense attorney also said Hunt was presenting a "backup position" of involuntary manslaughter.

"If it's implied malice then the text (the judge sent to his bailiff and clerk) doesn't make sense," Talley argued. "So it can't be both. It can't be intentional if he's in a drunken rage. So which is it? Was it intentional or not?"

"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.

In his rebuttal, Hunt questioned Talley's reliance on the testimony of an Anaheim detective, who was not qualified as a ballistics expert.

"He's not relying on his client's ridiculous defense because it doesn't make any sense," Hunt said.

He also said the bullet could have ricocheted, leaving the casing next to the coffee table, adding the crime scene was disturbed by first responders who were attempting to revive the victim as their first priority when they arrived on scene.

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.

Gary and Shannon

Join the conversation with Yappa