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Ryan W. Ferguson
Wrongfully convicted American (born 1984) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Ryan W. Ferguson (born October 19, 1984) is an American man who spent nearly 10 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a 2001 murder in his hometown of Columbia, Missouri. At the time of the murder, Ferguson was a 17-year-old high-school student.[1]
Ryan Ferguson | |
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![]() Ferguson (left) with exoneree David Camm (right) and Bill Clutter of Investigating Innocence | |
Born | (1984-10-19) October 19, 1984 (age 39) |
Nationality | American |
Known for | Exoneree of wrongful conviction of murder. Winning $11m through a civil suit against his persecutors. |
Kent Heitholt was found beaten and strangled shortly after 2:00 a.m. on November 1, 2001, in the parking lot of the Columbia Daily Tribune, where he worked as a sports editor. Heitholt's murder went unsolved for two years until police received a tip about a man named Charles Erickson who had spent that evening partying with Ferguson. Erickson could not remember the evening of the murder and was concerned that he may have been involved in it. Despite failing to recall having killed Heitholt, Erickson eventually confessed and implicated Ferguson in the crime as well. Ferguson was convicted in the fall of 2005 on the basis of Erickson's testimony as well as that of a building employee.
Both witnesses later recanted their testimony, claiming that police and prosecuting attorney Kevin Crane, now a circuit court judge, had coerced them to lie. The 2005 conviction was vacated on November 5, 2013, by the Western District of the Missouri Court of Appeals, and Ferguson was released on the evening of November 12 after spending nearly a decade in prison.[2] He won $11 million in a civil suit against Missouri police.
The case has been featured on 48 Hours,[3] Dateline[4] and in numerous other newspapers and media outlets.[5]