SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- A former Orange County Superior Court judge could face 40 years to life in prison when he is sentenced for shooting his 65-year-old wife to death during an argument in their Anaheim Hill home in 2023.

The first trial against 74-year-old Jeffrey Ferguson ended in a mistrial after the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. His second trial ended earlier this year when the jury found him guilty of second-degree murder.

Before sentencing, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor Hunter, who was brought in to oversee the trial because of Ferguson's position on the Orange County bench, will have to decide a motion for a new trial from the defendant's co-counsel, Frances Prizzia.

Prizzia argued that her client should get a new trial because Hunter denied a

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