A Missouri judge has refused to grant a new trial for a Columbia man convicted of second-degree murder in the 2001 killing of a newspaper sports editor.
Ryan Ferguson was one of two teenagers accused in the beating and strangulation of Kent Heithold outside the Columbia Daily Tribune early on the morning of Nov. 1, 2001.
Ryan’s father Bill Ferguson has been spearheading the effort to prove his son’s innocence.
“I am just devastated,” said Bill Ferguson.
He says he hadn’t heard the news until KBIA reached him for comment.
