In the year since his sons release from prison, Bill Ferguson has been afforded a luxury that, in the previous decade, simply didnt exist: free time.
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His son, Ryan Ferguson, had been convicted in 2005 of the death of a Columbia newspaper editor, but his sentence was vacated by an appeals panel last year.
Then, in March, the Ferguson familys attorney, Chicago-based Kathleen Zellner, filed a civil rights lawsuit claiming violations on the part of Boone County, the city of Columbia and a slew of current and former members of the Columbia Police Department though it has since been amended to include just six Columbia Police Department detectives involved with the case. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, originally sought $100 million in damages but now seeks no exact amount.
Assuming a settlement cannot be reached in the coming months and Bill Ferguson is adamant that he, at least, has no interest in a deal the case will go to trial in August 2015. Some of the same individuals who helped secure his sons 2005 murder and robbery convictions would stand as defendants in a detailed lawsuit alleging, among other things, the fabrication of evidence and reckless or intentional failure to investigate.
As Bill Ferguson puts it, The accusers have become the accused.
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The 2001 murder of Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt quickly became one of the most high-profile crimes in the history of the 115,000-resident college town.
For two years, police were essentially stumped. In 2004, they received an apparent break in the case when Charles Erickson, a former student at Rock Bridge High School, told authorities hed begun having dreams suggesting he had been involved in the killing. During questioning, Erickson eventually claimed hed taken part in the murder, along with an accomplice: then-classmate Ryan Ferguson.
Despite consistently denying any involvement, Ryan was sentenced in 2005 to 40 years in prison on second-degree murder and first-degree robbery charges.
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Zellner eventually agreed to take on Ryans case pro bono, and over the next few years, the case slowly worked its way through the legal system before a 2013 opinion of a panel of judges for the Western District of the appellate court vacated Ryans conviction.
Their decision was based on the grounds that the prosecution had withheld evidence from defense attorneys that could have helped Ferguson at trial.
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The justice system is a good system we have the best justice system in the world, Ferguson said. But its only as strong as the people that are administering it.
