SANTA ANA, Calif. — An Orange County Superior Court judge was drunk and had been arguing with his wife at dinner and after they got home, when he pulled a .40-caliber Glock out of an ankle holster and fatally shot her through the mid-section in their Anaheim Hills home, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday.

Jeffrey Ferguson, 74, is charged with murder with sentencing enhancements for discharge of a gun causing death and the personal use of a gun. He is accused of killing his wife, Sheryl, on Aug. 3, 2023.

What degree of murder jurors will get to consider will depend on how the evidence rolls out during the trial. Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt indicated in court papers he would present a second-degree murder case to jurors, but it is unclear if Los Angeles Superior Court Eleanor Hunter, who is presiding over the trial in Santa Ana, will allow jurors to also consider manslaughter.

Ferguson's defense attorneys are expected to argue it was an accidental shooting.

Police were called to the judge's home just after 8 p.m. that day at 8508 E. Canyon Vista Drive. When officers arrived, they found 65-year-old Sheryl Ferguson had suffered a fatal gunshot wound, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

When Ferguson got home at about 3:30 p.m. that day, he had a beer and a rum and coke, Hunt said. He then went to the El Cholo restaurant in Anaheim Hills with his wife and their son, then-22-year-old Phillip, and drank margaritas, Hunt said.

"They got into a heated argument about finances and lifestyle choices," Hunt said during Wednesday's opening argument.

The couple sparred about Ferguson's 37-year-old son, Kevin, from his first marriage, who was still depending on his father financially, Hunt said. Ferguson and his second wife, Sheryl, had been together for about 20 years, Hunt said.

"They had that argument about finances, about Kevin, about purchases he wanted to make," Hunt said.

At one point during the dinner, Ferguson mimicked a gun with his hand and pointed at her, Hunt said.

Sheryl Ferguson left the restaurant to cool off and Phillip confronted his father before joining his mother outside as well, Hunt said. Eventually, the two came back to the table and they went home, the prosecutor added.

Phillip asked his father why the two don't divorce, and his father said he couldn't afford it, Hunt said.

Phillip, a Southern Methodist University student who was home for the summer, was in the habit of joining the couple for TV-watching evenings and the three were watching an episode of "Breaking Bad" as the argument continued, the prosecutor added.

"Sheryl tells the defendant to shut up," Hunt said.

Phillip Ferguson, a history buff, allegedly got up and turned his back on them as he picked up a replica sword from his collection. The two continued to argue about him making the gun gesture at her. At some point she said something to the effect of why not point a real gun at her, the prosecutor said.

When Phillip Ferguson heard the gunshot, he leaped over the couch to tackle his father and retrieve the gun, Hunt said.

"Sheryl's last words were 'He shot me,"' according to the prosecutor.

The defendant told his son to call 911, Hunt said.

The prosecutor played a 911 call to dispatchers who coached the distressed, at times hyperventilating Phillip through chest compressions on the victim as her breathing faded.

Jeffrey Ferguson allegedly sent a text to his co-workers — his bailiff and court clerk, saying "I just lost it. I just shot my wife. I won't be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I'm so sorry."

The defendant went out to the front of the house to wait for police and paramedics while his son aided his mother.

Jurors saw body-worn camera of Ferguson frequently cursing and making self-deprecating remarks while also crying and asking several times whether his wife was going to make it.

Hunt said an expert is expected to testify that Ferguson's blood- alcohol level was .17 at the time, which is more than twice the limit for driving. Seven hours after the killing his blood-alcohol level was .065, Hunt said.

At one point while at a police station, Ferguson allegedly volunteered, "I killed her, ladies and gentleman of the jury. Convict my ass. I did it."

Ferguson also called 911, but when he was asked if he shot his wife, he said, "I don't want to talk about it right now."

He told Officer Michael Lee as he arrived on scene, "I did it and shoot me," Lee testified.

Ferguson is seen on the bodyworn camera lamenting often about his son.

"The world is going to hate me," he said. "My son will now hate me." Later, he added to himself, "Phillip, I'm so sorry."

He told the officers, "My son will hate me for the rest of his life."

He also asked one of the officers to get his son, so he could "hit me in the face. I deserve it."

Jeffrey Ferguson, a native of Oakland, earned a bachelor's degree in biological sciences and social ecology from UC Irvine in 1973. He earned his law degree in 1982 from Western State College of Law, beginning his legal career the following year in the Orange County District Attorney's Office, where he later became a senior prosecutor assigned to the Major Narcotics Enforcement Team. He was president of the North Orange County Bar Association from 2012-14. The Orange County Narcotics Officers Association named him prosecutor of the year four times.

He became a judge in 2015.

In 2017, he was admonished by the state Commission on Judicial Performance for comments he made on Facebook about a prosecutor who was campaigning to be a jurist and for maintaining "friends" status with three defense attorneys who had cases before him.

Sheryl Ferguson previously worked for the Santa Barbara and Orange County probation departments and later for the American Funds Service Company for almost 20 years prior to becoming a full-time mother.

An Orange County Superior Court judge was drunk and had been arguing with his wife at dinner and after they got home, when he pulled a .40-caliber Glock out of an ankle holster and fatally Ferguson was ordered in August 2023 not to consume alcohol, and to wear a GPS device and an alcohol monitoring device as a condition of being freed on $1 million bail.

Hunter subsequently doubled his $1 million bail last Sept. 24 after prosecutors argued that he had consumed alcohol that triggered his ankle monitor — in violation of the terms of his release — and he was taken into custody Sept. 24 in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.

Hunter said the defendant had been warned not to consume any alcohol and had agreed to that provision in connection with his release on $1 million bail, noting that someone "died at the hands of Mr. Ferguson" and that "alcohol was involved."

Hunter noted that Ferguson had signed a declaration under the penalty of perjury that he had nothing to drink, but Hunter concluded that he was "not truthful to the court" about his alcohol consumption.

"I have not consumed alcohol for over a year, and I did not consume any alcohol on Aug. 28 and Aug. 29, 2024," Ferguson wrote in court papers.

The judge warned Ferguson at the hearing last September that she was not going to accept a "ridiculous story" about his ankle-monitoring system being triggered by the use of cortizone anti-itch cream and hand sanitizer gel as the defense had argued.

Ferguson was subsequently released from a Los Angeles County jail last Oct. 25 on $2 million bond after spending about a month behind bars.OC judge accused of killing wife has bail revoked, taken into custody