The judge presiding over the new trial of an Orange county judge accused murder his wife accused him on Monday of making a “press tour” after his trial in March.
Among the interviews that the judge of the Superior Court of the County of Orange, Jeffrey Ferguson, was an appearance in Inside Edition, where he said that he and his wife “bicked like Lucy and Desi” before the judge said that he had accidentally shot him.
Prosecutors do not buy that. They accuse him of having drew it intentionally during a stormy argument.
The previous jury deliberated for nine days before announcing on March 10, they were desperately suspended.
On Monday, April 7, before a jury was selected for the new trial, the judge of the High Court of the County of Los Angeles, Eleanor Hunter, criticized Ferguson for doing several interviews with journalists after the trial.
“I know that Mr. Ferguson did a press tour” after the suspended jury led to a trial, said Hunter. “One of the things that stung my interest is that he was looking for it to be resolved.”
She said that if Ferguson wanted a plea agreement without making time behind bars, the answer was no.
Hunter also warned Ferguson that he may have taken his path of judicial ethics which prohibits judges from commenting on the outstanding cases.
“He is not allowed to comment on an open affair,” she said.
Hunter said the only reason she could see for Ferguson to do the interviews would be to derive the jury basin.
“And this must be a violation of the code of ethics,” she said.
While his defense lawyer argued at the trial that Ferguson accidentally fired the fatal shot after his bad shoulder had abandoned and that he escaped the weapon, the prosecutors said that the judge reached the weapon in his ankle case and shot the woman intentionally, during a stormy argument.
During the first trial, the jurors divided 11-1 promoting the guilt of the second degree murder, the deliberations ending in the trial lasted longer than the trial itself.
California Daily Newspapers
