Dateline NBC Friday Night 11/30

One of the most shocking cases imaginable.  Check this show out.  It really is unreal.

https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/vp/44005607#44005607

https://www.freeryanferguson.com

Im in the process of watching it.  Apparently it aired last year.  But so far, all I got to say for the guy is if you're 17 and your out at 2AM drinking at bars, nothing good can come from that...  Not saying you should be falsely accused of murder, but cmon...

It aired originally August 2011 on Dateline and aired back in '06 and updated several times on 48 Hours.  This is a new show though.  Updates for developments in the last year.

Re: drinking that is completely 100% not the issue.  I read that half of the bar was underage that night.  Doesn't make it OK, but it's pretty much irrelevant to a 40 year murder charge for a crime he had NOTHING to do with it and for which he's served 8.5 years.  It's insane.  This isn't the case of an accident or wrong place wrong time or self defense.  He had ZERO to do with the crime until his mentally ill "friend" started telling people about his dreams.  And as far as the justice system, it's a case of a local police and prosecutor so desperate to solve a high profile murder case (major newspaper sports editor) that they coerced a kid into confessing and coerced and intimidated witnesses into falsely identifying the defendant and trying to corroborate his story.  It makes the hair on your head stand up.  It's that scary.  And now a local justice system that is desperate to protect them.  We will find out if soon if there are adults in the state judiciary in Missouri.

Meanwhile, the real killer got away with it.  And this was a BRUTAL murder too.  Very personal - strangulation.

The shame of Boone County, Missouri.

Yeah, Im watching the Dateline version...couple things...

1) Drinking has nothing to do with this murder, but it contributes to someones character.  You subconsciously build bridges that tell someone, "hey!  this guy can't obey the laws dealing with curfew/false ID/underage drinking/etc and is surrounded by a "bad crowd" of friends/sister that aid in his lack of respect for laws/rules. what makes me think he can follow the rules regarding assault?"

2) Im only 75% done watching, so I can't fully comment on it, but I agree with you 100% on the justice system we have, and your other comments too.  Im not saying he is guilty, just stating the fact that if he followed the rules, it would have been a lot harder for them to pin this on him.  I will finish the rest and comment back...

"In each of these cases the prosecutors either knew or should have known the accused were innocent and knew evidence was hidden but chose to prosecute".


Prosecutors are pricks (according to my own experiences, of course).  I've seen a lot of corruption within the system and nothing shocks me any more.

No question.  And this is even more prone in a high profile case. And get this, the prosecutor for the case, Kevin Crane, retired 3 months after the trial in favor of an appointment as a circuit judge.....replacing the judge that was the trial judge for Ryan Ferguson's case.  Let that sink in.  No wonder why he can't get justice from the local judiciary.

You make a good point in terms of explaining how a jury could convict someone without any evidence.  Not only did the prosecution stress that he was an underage drinker, they also stressed to a lower class jury that the defendant's family had money and the kid drove a Mercedes (an old beat up hand me down, but still).  The prosecution got the jury to dislike him in order to ignore the lack of evidence.

"Without any evidence?"  I thought he confessed.

Newsflash to all: Never confess to a crime you did not commit.  In fact, never talk to the police at all if you are being investigated.  Lawyer up immediately. 

No, he (Ryan Ferguson) did not confess.  His story has never changed from Day one.  Watch Ryan's initial interrogation tapes and it's so obvious he's innocent.  His crazy friend Chuck confessed (to a crime he didn't commit) and said they both killed the guy.  He dragged him into his bad dreams.

  I just finished watching it. I don't fear many things, well besides maybe spiders, but being accused of a crime like this is one of the things I really fear.What a mind phuck this must e for that kid/guy. Depeche, I agree with everything you wrote above. If you're the Assistant .D.A, how do you sleep at night? Even a simpleton could deduce there is something really wrong going on this case..You just never know when you're going to step on a proverbial landmine This situation could happen to anyone. Who knew Hell actually existed in some small town on Missouri.  

Ok.  I finished watching.  Pretty screwed up situation.  I wish there was more involved to explain why Ryans own lawyer was building a case against the black guy, but yet those findings were just completely dropped because the killer confessed? Not sure if they were actually dropped, but they stopped talking about them in the video.  I will definitely tune in tomorrow.

Yes.  All of this...

I can answer your questions, I'm very well versed in this case.  Chuck did NOT kill the guy either.  He just completely imagined/dreamed the whole thing up.  He was abusing drugs and alcohol and had experienced a blackout at some point that night.  Just happened that a few weeks later he was admitted for psych eval.  As they presented this he literally had no memory of the supposed murder until 2 years later reading articles about it in the paper he started having these vivid dreams that they had done it.  He told a few people and one of them called in a "tip" and it just snowballed from there.  You can find the interrogation tapes online, but he was telling the cops that he didn't really know, that he was trying to figure out what happened from articles, that he could just be fabricating the whole thing...and he truly knew no details about the crime that wasn't public.  Meanwhile, the cops sat there and fed him the info and coerced a confession.

What actually happened that night is they left the bar around 1:30 closing.  Ryan drive Chuck home, then Ryan drove him.  Made a few calls from the curb outside his home, then went in and went to bed.  That's it.

Most telling, the scene was LOADED was physical evidence -- hair in the hand, blood, DNA, fingerprints, shoeprints leading away.  They tested all of that, plus Ryan's car, home, Chuck's home, everything.  Nothing matched.  The hair, blood, prints, none of it is theirs.  This was a brutal crime.  The killer's evidence is going to be everywhere.

Michael Body is a very good suspect.  The timeline puts him in the lot at the time of the murder.  I'm not certain he did, but the cops still to this day have never tested the physical evidence against him.  Sorry behind cops.  Unreal.

no no no the killer did not confess and they haven't exactly 'dropped' that case.  They were however barred from arguing that at the latest hearing.  There's only so much the defense can do on that without police powers.

And this wasn't even such a small town.  This happened near the U of Missouri campus in Columbia, MO.  However since it was so high profile they bused in a jury from a nearby bumblefuck county.  Let's just say these folks were not the sharpest knives in the drawer.  The case started on Monday and went to the jury Friday 4pm.  They didn't want to stay the weekend so they rendered their verdict and did sentencing that night.  Sick.

Ryan Ferguson's current (for the last 3 years) attorney, Kathleen Zellner, is one of the nation's leading attorneys for wrongful convictions.  She's had at least 12 wrongful convictions overturned (12 for 12).  She's an Illinois attorney, but got herself admitted in Missouri just to handle this case....and is doing it 100% pro bono.

This itself speaks volumes.

So who's fault do YOU think it is that Ryan is behind bars?  I mean, there are so many people involved that have wronged him, most seemingly intentional.  You have Chuck, there are the 2 eye witnesses that testified (man and woman), you have the prosecutor, the jury, the judge.

Also, why are u so familiar with this case?  personal friend? law student? just intrigued?

Ryno,

Chuck was a mentally imbalanced impressionable kid.  It all goes back to him of course but it's hard to know much to "blame" him for his defects.  I think in a way it might not have been intentional.  He convinced himself it was true (finally now admits that he either made it up or has no memory.

There weren't two eyewitnesses who ID'd Ryan, only one -- Jerry Trump.  Trump has now completely recanted and admitted he didn't and couldn't have seen Ryan.  He even asked for forgiveness.  He was pressured by the prosecutor and was scared because he was on parole.

The police and prosecutor are most to blame.  First of all, they fucked up the investigation by focusing on one theory to the exclusion of all others.  There were two young white males that happened upon the scene (not Chuck or Ryan), but they didn't do it.  Ryan's family has put up a billboard to find this person as a witness.  The prosecutor is evil.  He intimidated witnesses and manipulated the whole trial.  The trial judge, eh.  The jury was just stupid.  Can't fix stupid.  They prejudged the case.  And now this last judge just had no spine at all.

It's a whole series of failures.  That's why it's so fascinating.  No personal connection, just became intrigued by the case.  I've read the entire trial transcripts and all of the pleadings. 

thanks for the info... knowing that extra stuff will make tonights show better.  do you know if there will be any updated info presented tonight?

Yes.  There have been significant witness developments and legal proceedings within the last year.  I would characterize it but I don't want to give it away.  I would expect you'll find it shocking.

Depech,

I found this case to be very interesting also. The guilty verdict never sat well with me.

The prosecutor should be the one behind bars, He knows there is an innocent man rotting in prison. How does this schmuck sleep at night?

I hope Zellner can make it 13/13

Kaufee, that prosecutor became a judge....took the seat of the trial judge on this case not more than a few months after the trial.   If that doesn't smell, I don't know what does.

I was living in Columbia at this time ( I was a freshman at Mizzou)   And yes, the bars are that out of control. Or were at that time.  We would go in a group to this bar called Georges and jump the fence all at once.  If the bouncers caught you, youd just throw them a 5 or something and carry on. 

Are you serious? Holy garbage, how does our judicial system even allow this? This case gets more unbelievable by the minute

Holy Garbage? gotta love the new auto correct on swearing, Lol