Retrial bid in Columbia editor's death resumes
FILE PHOTO: Ryan Ferguson appears during his trial for the 2001 murder of Kent Heitholt
Copyright: NBC News
Posted: 04/16/2012
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By: Associated Press
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Columbia man convicted nearly seven years ago for killing a newspaper sports editor in 2001 returns to court Monday in his latest bid for a new trial.
Ryan Ferguson is serving a 40-year sentence for second-degree murder and robbery in in the strangling death of Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt in the newspaper's parking lot.
Ferguson has convinced a Cole County judge to allow new evidence during a hearing in Jefferson City, where he is imprisoned. The hearing is scheduled to last five days.
Ferguson won't testify, but his lawyers plan to call co-defendant Charles Erickson, a former high school friend. Erickson pleaded guilty to Heitholt's slaying and received a 25-year prison sentence. Erickson now says the two men were together but only he killed Heitholt.
Fegurson's case was featured in a 2011 Dateline NBC report. To see video clips of that report, visit http://bit.ly/HNEKYG
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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