Ryan Ferguson: Murder conviction recently overturned — Transcript

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1. 0:00we begin with the story of Freedom after
2. 0:01a long prison nightmare a 29-year-old
3. 0:04Missouri man sentenced to 40 years
4. 0:06behind bars is finally back with his
5. 0:09family this morning Ryan Ferguson spent
6. 0:12nearly a decade trying to prove he is an
7. 0:14innocent man he celebrated his release
8. 0:17last night with a steak and a beer a
9. 0:20state appeals court overturned
10. 0:21Ferguson's murder conviction last week
11. 0:24now Missouri's attorney general says he
12. 0:26will not retry the case Ryan Ferguson
13. 0:29and his father joined us in a moment but
14. 0:31first 48 Hours correspondent Ain morard
15. 0:33is here her 8 years of original
16. 0:36reporting uncovered many of the gaps in
17. 0:38this case Aaron good morning to you well
18. 0:40it is a good morning when the state
19. 0:42appointed a special prosecutor to handle
20. 0:45this case last Friday most people
21. 0:47expected it would take months to resolve
22. 0:49Ryan Ferguson's fate it took Just 4
23. 0:53days
24. 0:55Ryan
25. 0:57yay it was finally over over last night
26. 1:01a smiling Ryan Ferguson appeared before
27. 1:04supporters in the
28. 1:06Press no longer in handcuffs or his
29. 1:09prison issu jumpsuit he first thanked
30. 1:13his parents Bill and Leslie Ferguson
31. 1:15they are the absolute most amazing
32. 1:17parents people you know you could ever
33. 1:19have without them you know I wouldn't
34. 1:22have had any hope guilty of murder in
35. 1:23the second degree Ferguson was convicted
36. 1:26in 2005 of killing Kent heid hold a
37. 1:29popular newspaper sports editor while
38. 1:32there was plenty of physical evidence at
39. 1:34the scene none of it matched Ferguson he
40. 1:37was convicted on the word of two
41. 1:39witnesses one was Charles Erikson a high
42. 1:42school classmate who claimed they killed
43. 1:44heol in a late night robbery the other a
44. 1:48janitor who said he saw Ferguson at the
45. 1:50crime scene both men later admitted they
46. 1:53lied at trial surprisingly Ferguson says
47. 1:57he holds no grudges against his former
48. 1:59friend
49. 2:00he was used and manipulated and uh I
50. 2:04kind of feel sorry for the guy alongside
51. 2:06Ferguson was his attorney cleen zelner
52. 2:08who took his case pro bono after seeing
53. 2:11a report on 48 hours he's so worth the
54. 2:15effort of of what we did what his
55. 2:18parents did he's just an amazing amazing
56. 2:21person last week the appell Court ruled
57. 2:23the prosecutors concealed evidence from
58. 2:25Ferguson's defense and that he didn't
59. 2:28get a fair trial Ryan Ferguson is now
60. 2:31looking forward to the little things no
61. 2:33I kind of want some Berry
62. 2:35Queen making up for lost time with his
63. 2:38big sister and the rest of his
64. 2:41family and catching up with good friends
65. 2:45and of course my beautiful girlfriend
66. 2:47years of your
67. 2:48life the state announced yesterday that
68. 2:51it would not retry him at this time what
69. 2:54that means is that the state could bring
70. 2:56charges at a future time if new evidence
71. 2:58surface but there's far more evidence
72. 3:00pointing to other suspects than Ferguson