Orange County Judge Sentenced for Wife's Shooting Death | Crime Alert 05.02.25

Orange County Judge shoots and kills his wife in a drunken argument. Transporting a chainsaw by bike does not seem safe. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime alert. I mean see grace breaking crime news now.
Orange County, California Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson and wife
and son enjoy a Mexican restaurant when the couple begins arguing.
Ferguson has plenty of drinks during dinner, then heads home.
The argument with wife Cheryl escalates. Ferguson says he tries

(00:20):
to diffuse the situation, pulling a gun from his ankle
holster to put it on the coffee table that it
went off accidentally. Prosecutors don't buy his story.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Nancy Cheryl Ferguson is fatally shant as her husband puts
his gun on the table. The couple's twenty two year
old son then tackles Jeffrey Ferguson to the ground, wrestling
the gun away before calling nine one one and starting
CPR and his mother. Meanwhile, Judge Ferguson Texas clerk and
bailiff quote, I lost it. I just shot my wife.

(00:53):
I won't be in tomorrow. I will be in custody.
I'm so sorry. Ferguson goes to trial on one of
felony murder, but the first jury cannot come to a
unanimous decision. A second jury decides differently.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Former judge Jeffrey Ferguson found guilty, now facing forty years
behind bars. Sam Patrick Groft uses his bicycle to get
around LA and carry his chainsaw, which he allegedly uses
to chop down trees in the middle of the night,
at least two confirmed, one twelve midnight, another one twenty am.

(01:28):
Two more cut down in broad daylight two pm and
three forty pm. Groft spotted on security footage wearing all
black during his destructive rides. LA police charging him with
felony vandalism. More crime and justice news after this Now
with the latest crime and justice breaking news Crime Onlines

(01:50):
John Linley.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
In Wisconsin, prosecutors have reduced a felony charge against former
prison Warden Randall Hepp to a misdemeanor as part of
a plea agreement. Hepp was originally charged in June twenty
twenty four with misconduct in office after the deaths of
two inmates, Cameron Williams and Donald Meyer at Woppin Correctional Institution,

(02:12):
the state's oldest maximum security prison. Help announced his retirement
just days before those charges were filed. The felony misconduct
charge carried a possible sentence of up to three and
a half years in prison and a ten thousand dollars fine.
Under the new deal, Hep faces a misdemeanor count of
violating state County institution laws, punishable by a maximum of

(02:37):
thirty days in jail and a five hundred thousand dollars fine.
Online court record show a plea agreement has now been filed.
Hepp was also provided with a guilty plea questionnaire confirming
he is pleading guilty knowingly and voluntarily. A major church
abuse investigation is now before New Jersey's highest court, As

(02:59):
Crime Online Sydney Sumner tells us, the Diocese of Camden
is fighting to stop a state grand jury probe.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
The New Jersey Supreme Court is hearing arguments as the
Diocese of Camden tries to block a grand jury investigation
into clergy sexual abuse. The state formed a task force
after Pennsylvania's twenty eighteen report exposed decades of abuse. New
Jersey set up a hotline and received more than five
hundred and fifty reports, but so far, no specific allegations

(03:30):
have been made public. The diocese argues grand juries are
meant for public officials not private church matters, and points
to a two thousand and two agreement requiring churches to
report abuse directly to prosecutors. Lower court sided with the
diocese last year, Attorney General Matt Platkin appealed. This comes
after New Jersey overhauled its child sex abuse laws and

(03:53):
Catholic dioceses named over one hundred and eighty priests credibly accused.
In twenty twenty two, Loon agreed to an eighty seven
point five million dollar settlement with three hundred abuse survivors,
one of the largest in US Catholic church history. The
state Supreme Court's decision could reshape how clergy abuse cases

(04:13):
are handled in New Jersey.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
A ruling could come later this year.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Thanks John Tamra and Iris Perez spotted by neighbors leaving
their home hout in Lake, Michigan heading toward the woods.
A newer model white Jeep Cherokee seen on surveillance leaving
the area same time as the sisters leave their home.
Police say the sisters were taken from their residents. Tamra sixteen,
black female, five three, one hundred and twenty pounds, black care,

(04:41):
brown eyes, Iris, black female, black care brown eyes, a
star tattoo on the left side of her neck. She's
five feet, one hundred forty pounds. Anyone with information concerning
the whereabouts of Tamra and Iris Perez please call Rosscommon
County Sheriffs nine eight nine nine two seven five five

(05:02):
one zero one. For the latest crime injustice news, go
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daily podcast, Crime Stories, where we do our best to
find missing people, especially children, and solve unsolved homicides. With
this crime alert, I Nancy Grace