Wrongly-Imprisoned Ryan Ferguson Shares His Story | TODAY — Transcript

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1. 0:00now to a man whose story is almost too
2. 0:01shocking to believe at just 19 years old
3. 0:04Ryan Ferguson was wrongly convicted of
4. 0:06murder he served nearly a decade in
5. 0:08prison all the while maintaining his
6. 0:10innocence then a little over a year ago
7. 0:12on his last appeal attempt Ryan's
8. 0:15conviction was overturned he writes
9. 0:17about his experiences in the new book
10. 0:19Stronger Faster smarter Ryan good
11. 0:22morning good to have you here good
12. 0:23morning Matt great how you doing I'm
13. 0:24doing fantastic just trying to get back
14. 0:26into life and uh figure out my place in
15. 0:28the world well and we're going to talk
16. 0:30about that the book is fascinating when
17. 0:31you first went to prison you admit that
18. 0:33you had the anger you had the resentment
19. 0:35you had the bitterness how long did that
20. 0:38last and what turned the page for you
21. 0:40how did you get past it it lasted years
22. 0:43and I realized that it was only hurting
23. 0:45myself so I started to read more I
24. 0:48started to work out more I started to
25. 0:49take care of my mind and my body and
26. 0:51life really began to change for me and
27. 0:53get better so I just kept moving down
28. 0:55that path you you staying fit was really
29. 0:58about survival in prison you had had a a
30. 1:00an a very difficult time with a cellmate
31. 1:02there was a murder in a Cell just a few
32. 1:05cells down from you so was this as much
33. 1:08about surviving emotionally as it was
34. 1:10getting fit it was it was mostly uh
35. 1:13surviving emotionally and physically and
36. 1:16as time went on I realized that this is
37. 1:18a great quality of life and I wanted to
38. 1:20be able to share that with other people
39. 1:22you started writing the book while you
40. 1:24were in prison did you have hopes that
41. 1:27it would eventually reach an audience or
42. 1:29did you still Harbor the fears that you
43. 1:31would linger and and spend the rest of
44. 1:33your time in that prison cell I I
45. 1:35definitely had fears um nothing is given
46. 1:38in our legal system and that's what's
47. 1:40it's it's not about fact it's not about
48. 1:42reality and what what the laws actually
49. 1:44say so sometimes you never know what's
50. 1:47going to happen and I figured I would
51. 1:49write this book regardless of what's
52. 1:50going to happen in my future I'm going
53. 1:52to get out someday I'm going to prove my
54. 1:53innocence and this book is going to be
55. 1:55there to help people when I am that news
56. 1:57when it finally reached you that on your
57. 1:59last appeal attempt that that finally
58. 2:01the courts looked and said wait a minute
59. 2:03this conviction needs to be
60. 2:05overturned were you mentally prepared to
61. 2:07handle that news I'm I'm sure it was
62. 2:09hard to be mentally prepared to handle
63. 2:10the news that you might stay in prison
64. 2:11longer but did it take some getting used
65. 2:13to that you were getting out it still
66. 2:15takes getting used to I uh I didn't know
67. 2:18if I was actually going to get out when
68. 2:19I got that news I was somewhat skeptical
69. 2:22and a week later I ended up getting out
70. 2:24and even then it was it was strange
71. 2:26being free again after a decade I had
72. 2:28missed my 20s so coming back out into
73. 2:30the world was a very scary Prospect and
74. 2:32I'm still trying to figure it out you
75. 2:33you mentioned you missed your 20s I mean
76. 2:35and and I would imagine it would be
77. 2:37harmful to dwell on that but I don't
78. 2:40know how you can't dwell on that you
79. 2:42just try to try to move forward in life
80. 2:44and and I always look at like the 30s of
81. 2:46the new 20s right so uh I got a lot I
82. 2:48want to do in life and it's just about
83. 2:50focusing on the day and not really
84. 2:52worrying about the past and what you
85. 2:53missed it's just trying to to bring the
86. 2:55best future possible well well talk to
87. 2:57me a little bit about what you have a
88. 2:58girlfriend now you've got this book
89. 3:00coming out what else is on your list you
90. 3:02have a lot of catching up to do I do I
91. 3:04do um I train at CrossFit ATC and Fort
92. 3:07Myers it's a great gym so that's a big
93. 3:09big part of my life uh keeps me happy
94. 3:11keeps me going uh we have a documentary
95. 3:13coming out with Andrew Jinx so we got
96. 3:15some good news on that in the future I
97. 3:17hope within the next week or so might
98. 3:18you spend some time with others who are
99. 3:21incarcerated who who claim their
100. 3:23innocence and who you believe are
101. 3:25innocent absolutely that's that's the
102. 3:27main component of my life right now is
103. 3:28trying to to expose the parts of our
104. 3:30legal system that need help and it's a
105. 3:32great legal system but there are a lot
106. 3:35of innocent people that are stuck in it
107. 3:37and exposing the truths and realities
108. 3:39that they're facing uh I think that's
109. 3:41the most important thing because if it's
110. 3:44hard to get a person out it's very easy
111. 3:46for them to go in so if we can stop
112. 3:47people going in who are innocent I think
113. 3:49that's the biggest thing and we need
114. 3:51accountability for police and
115. 3:52prosecutors any lingering anger there is
116. 3:55there is there's a lot of anger and uh
117. 3:57I'm actually writing a book about that
118. 3:58right now because I believe you can take
119. 4:01that that anger and that negativity and
120. 4:02turn it into positive action and that's
121. 4:04what my whole life is really geared
122. 4:06towards is whether it's my fitness or
123. 4:09helping other people the legal system
124. 4:11it's using that that energy that could
125. 4:13be very destructive and making life good
126. 4:16and helping other people you certainly
127. 4:17set off on that road Ryan it's good to
128. 4:19see you thank you sir pleasure to have
129. 4:20you here thank you and you too and again
130. 4:22the book is stronger faster
131. 4:28smarter
132. 4:33oh