CONVICTION OVERTURNED MO - Kent Heitholt, 48, found murdered, Columbia, 1 Nov 2001

[LinasK]

ByCrimesider StaffCBS/AP March 11, 2014, 12:55 PM

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The attorney for a man wrongly convicted in the 2001 slaying of a Missouri sports editor filed a civil rights lawsuit seeking $100 million for her client on Monday.
The attorney for 29-year-old Ryan Ferguson, Kathleen Zellner, alleges fabricated evidence in the case and the lack of a complete police investigation into the 2001 killing of Kent Heitholt in the 50-page complaint, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune. Heitholt was a sports editor for the paper. <snip>The lawsuit is filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. The newspaper reports that the suit asks for actual damages of $75 million and compensatory damages of $25 million.

The Tribune reports that Zellner also demands a jury trial and names a total of 13 defendants, including the City of Columbia, the Columbia Police Department and Boone County.
CBS/AP more at link: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/attorney-for-wrongly-convicted-ryan-ferguson-files-100m-lawsuit/

 

[jggordo]

I started a new thread for Ryan's lawsuit. It's under his name. I linked several local articles from Columbia, MO.

Ryan Ferguson-$100M Wrongful Coviction Lawsuit

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=237659&highlight=ryan+ferguson

 

[ComoSJD]

I live in Columbia so I'm aware of the details of the case. Of course the sister is going to say that. If you could help your brother not go to jail you would too. But I know the guys who owned that bar at that time. Because it was Halloween night there was extra security checking IDs and such due to costumes etc.. Those 17 year old kids were not inside that club. Columbia did not have as many bars at that time. The owners do not put their licenses and business on the line to serve kids that young. And it is because it is a college town.

I live in Columbia, too. And I was 21 when Heitholt was murdered. By Georges was known as more than an underage bar, it was a high-school bar. By the time I turned 22, I felt like I was WAY to old for By Georges. Your information is just wrong.

 

[ComoSJD]

I don't understand that Ryan's or Chuck's alibi is that they were at the bar. In so much that it was 2001, they were both 17. How were they in a club 4 blocks from the police station at that age? At this point I don't believe Ryan is just totally not guilty. In his trial his behavior was that of a "punk". The jurors got that as well. It might be understandable that someone slightly younger than 21 might get in to a club. But barely 17, CMON. and both of them?

Their alibi is that they had already left the bar and gone home (a witness said she saw them drive away). Columbia bars close at 1:30 am. Last call is usually at 1:00 am.

The bar I frequented before turning 21 was right across from the police station, literally 100 feet away. By Georges was on the outskirts of the downtown bar scene, across a major four-lane road (Providence), and it was very much an underage bar frequented by high school students. Also, keep in mind that Columbia has 30,000 undergraduate students. The bar scene here is big, and it's common for those over 21 to get IDs for those under 21. Or if you know a bouncer, they'll let you and friends inside. Underaged drinking is quite common here.

 

[ComoSJD]

Isn't this considered slander? I mean you may suspect the guy which is understandable but to flat out call someone a murderer without proof is not cool.

Technically, it's libel (slander is spoken). But it's unlikely Michael Boyd is going to sue from a random forum posting. He's been quite distant from the case, and I think there's significant evidence that should have made him a suspect.

For instance, Boyd told five different versions of the events on the night of the murder. Telling, I think, is that each version of Boyd's story distances himself from the crime scene a bit further than the last.

Ferguson's lawsuit against the state is founded upon the state's failure to investigate Boyd, basically saying that if the police had done their job then Ferguson (nor Erickson) would never have been charged. The lawsuit claims that papers found at the scene were Boyd's, not Heitholt's. He put himself at the scene when the murder took place. Anyway, Boyd could have gone to the media and said, "Here, take my DNA," but he hasn't. He's hiding in a tiny Missouri town, hoping this all passes.

Boyd's a better suspect than Ferguson ever was, or Erickson for that matter.

I also hope the police have cross-referenced Timothy Hoag's DNA with DNA at the crime scene, though i doubt they'd do anything other than pursue Ferguson and Erickson as suspects. Hoag is Columbia's only known parking lot murderer (randomly attacked a professor in 2005, stabbing him to death before stuffing him in the trunk of his car and setting it on fire).

I think the Heitholt case is solvable, but it really needs open-minded detectives and media pushing for answers. Staff at the Columbia Tribune (where Heitholt worked; also Columbia's major newspaper) aren't helping forward the investigation, as many staff members seem to think that Ferguson and Erickson are guilty, certainly over one of their own. I'm confident that answers will come, in time.

 

[Madeleine74]

48 Hours New Episode

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/ryan-ferguson-lifeafterten

 

[bezel]

Bump because I just watched a docu on netflix about RF and the supposed wrongful conviction, prompting a search for a thread on Kent here at WS.

I have not seen much of the original information from before the start of the 'dream drama'.
I have been on the hunt for any news articles from before 3/12/2004 about this case. There are archives available online through the Daniel Boone Regional Library, but require an account. It feels like information after those interviews in 2004 is all tainted. JMO

3 part article:
Heitholt's Cat part 1
archive link: HEITHOLT'S CAT: And other troubling tales about the forgotten man in …

Heitholt's Cat part 2
archive link:HEITHOLT'S CAT, Part 2: Changing stories, feline friend highlight Rya…

Heitholt's Cat part 3
archive link: HEITHOLT'S CAT, Part 3: Red car or blue car; Ryan Ferguson or Michael…

images: Kent Heitholt murder: Crime scene & suspects

police reports (see attached) were pulled from here: Charles Erickson Case Files

After reading just this, I can't understand why MB was not a POI.
JMO

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Closure elusive after Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt's death

 

[BeckyF]

Charles Erickson out of prison on parole, serving 18 years for murder of Kent Heitholt

krcgtv.com

A man who pleaded guilty to the murder of Columbia Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt was released on parole Monday morning.