JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- The Missouri Attorney General's office has asked the court of appeals to reject new testimony that said Ryan Ferguson did not murder a Columbia newspaper man.
Attorney General Chris Koster said he is not opposed to a full evidentiary hearing, but he said Missouri law does not allow for new evidence to be introduced at this stage in the appeals process.
Ferguson is serving a 40-year sentence for second-degree murder.
He has maintained that he was not at the crime scene and had nothing to do with the crime.
His co-defendant, Chuck Erickson, recently recanted his court testimony. Now, Erickson says while Ferguson was there, he acted alone in the 2001 murder.
The Western District Court of Appeals will not rule on whether to admit the recanted testimony until Ferguson’s lawyers have a chance to respond.