Sunday, February 24, 2013

Former Missouri prosecutor Kevin Crane, now a judge, still won't admit to railroading — with no physical evidence — college student Ryan Ferguson in murder conviction

UPDATE: Ferguson was released from prison November 13th, 2013. Watch his interview with CBS, whose reporter, Erin Moriarity, gave his predicament national attention and resulted in Kathleen Zellner, who Ferguson's father compared to the Marines, taking on the case — and Missouri's justice system — and winning.

Current circuit judge and former
Boone County MO Prosecuting
Attorney Kevin Crane

Despite the fact that both witnesses in the conviction of Ryan Ferguson for the murder of sportswriter Kent Heitholt have now recanted their accusation and despite the fact that there was never any physical evidence in the case implicating anyone accused by Missouri authorities, Judge Daniel Greene has denied the latest of 13 appeals in the case.
     From the website started by Ryan's father:
Since his original conviction, Ryan Ferguson has been back in court on several occasions including a 2008 evidentiary hearing and a 2012 habeas corpus. On all these occasions the local Missouri judges ruled against him, unwilling to challenge the authority and judgments of their colleagues. Even though the only two witness against him committed perjury and the ‘sole witness’ says Ryan was not the individual she saw in the parking lot.


     Ferguson is being represented, pro bono, by attorney Kathleen Zellner.
     A summary of facts from the website seeking Ferguson's release from prison:
  • A single strand of bloody hair was found in the hand of the victim Kent Heitholt. It did not match Ryan Ferguson, Chuck Erickson or Heitholt.
  • None of the fingerprints or blood found at the scene matched Ryan or Chuck.
  • Ryan’s car and Chuck’s home were thoroughly tested for any blood or physical evidence linking them to the crime. None was found.
  • There were two sets of bloody shoeprints leading away from Kent Heitholt’s car – neither of the shoe sizes matched Ryan or Chuck. For this reason these shoeprints were not introduced as evidence at Ryan’s trial.
  • After police coercion, Chuck Erickson claimed he struck Kent Heitholt with a tire iron taken from Ryan’s car trunk and Ryan strangled him.
  • Heitholt was hit 11 times but none of these blows resulted in a skull fracture. Medical experts state this would be physically impossible with a sturdy tire iron.
  • The tire tool found in Ryan’s car was cleared by the FBI and found to have no connection to the crime.
  • At his first police interrogation Chuck Erickson had no idea how Heitholt was murdered – until fed information that had not been made public by the investigating officers.
  • A Missouri appeals court stated quite simply that 'there is no physical evidence that ties Ferguson to this murder. Prosecutor Kevin Crane also stated this to the jury at the beginning of the trial.

29 comments:

  1. KEVIN CRANE NEEDS TO BE PUT IN PRISON FOR 40 YEARS. I GUESS HE FOLLOWED THE "WIN AT ANY COST" PHILOSOPHY. HE SHOULD BE DISBARRED AND THROWN IN JAIL ALONG WITH ANYONE ELSE THAT LIED.

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  2. Send this piece of hot garbage to jail. He wanted to accelerate his move to Judge from DA and decided his own career advancement was going to come at the expense of Ryan Ferguson. IMPRISON KEVIN CRANE.

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  3. It is always a terrible irony when a person who is suppose to be honest and have integrity in upholding the law, like Judge Kevin Crane and other judges, his peers, actually, abuse the law to maintain their own appearance of honesty and integrity. These individuals are making judgments about the lives of other people, but do not follow the procedures and regulations set forth in the law for them to use in making these life decisions. These actions say they have no concern for other people or the law. They are role models. If others were to follow these "honest" people's actions, we would be in prison like Ryan Ferguson. It is shameful those with judicial power use it to wrongfully convict a young man and keep him in prison because they do not have the ability to be honest and are not with integrity; stated requirements for their positions as judicial leaders.

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    1. Well said. I hope he is disbarred and prosecuted and of course found guilty.

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  4. Agreed; shocking he is a judge now. He should be in jail himself. I don't know how he lives with himself

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    1. Now that Kevin Crane is a known Enemy of Truth and Justice for all of us, there needs to be an all -out national campaign by the 99% to Disbar Kevin Crane, permanently from continuing to misuse his power over innocent victims by the judicial system. He is an example to how incredibly evil and lawless judges typically are.

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  5. What a piece of garbage - live by the sword...karma's a bitch

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  6. KARMA KARMA please smack his arse for me...
    People like this "Judge" KEVIN CRANE is precisely why our legal system is flawed. I never ever do jury duty, I refuse to participate in these kind of non justice trals...
    KEVIN CRANE
    your a ass

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  7. Kevin Crane, how do you sleep at night? Man up....you are corrupt and a disgrace to our Justice System and the U.S. Every comment written about you is negative. Tami B.

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  8. Unfortunately there are several counties in Missouri that are "railroaders". I really have contempt for the legal system. I too will not get involved with a jury trial.

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  9. I hope Kevin Crane gets accused and convicted of a horrible crime he didn`t commit. Then he`ll know how Ryan`s been feeling for 10 years.

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  10. I don't understand why the great folks of Missouri are putting up with this? First, set Ryan free, second....fire the all authorities involved in this case from beginning to start. America is better than this.

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  11. Kevin Crane is the sort of lawyer/prosecutor and judge that make a person ashamed to say they are a lawyer. He is not alone, there are plenty of arrogant men and women representing the State of Missouri that have no business doing so. He will not admit he is wrong until a jury or the state judiciary tell him he is wrong. Not likely to happen, lawyers tend to protect each other.

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  12. The state of Missouri should be required to pay restitution to Mr. Ferguson a considerable sum with the bulk of it by "Judge" Crains forfeiture of any and all retirement benefits accrued with the state of Missouri.

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  13. Kevin Crane is a sick fu*k, and everything that is wrong with this country and mostly its justice system because he plays an important part in it. It turns my stomach when I think of a scum bag like him with any power what soever those above him should be accountable as well letting that piece of crap get away with it.

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  14. Kevin Crane is A sorry Mother Fucker. I Hope He Gets What is Coming to Him, Worthless Piece Of Shit!!

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    1. Our family had to deal with Kevin Crane years ago while my son attended Mizzou. He now has a felony for something that wasn't that big of an issue. Crane just want's win's I hope he root's in hell someday and Prison first.Crane F you.Your a sorry ass judge..

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  15. DONT KID YOUR SELF--THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IS CORRUPT ALL OVER. DONT LIKE WHAT HE DID JUST COMPLAIN TO THE STATE THAT DID THIS!!

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  16. Kevin Crane should be disbarred. You are a piece of shit and I hope you burn in hell

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  17. Citizens are not safe. The bubble of "immunity" surrounds the corrupt power-mongers.

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  18. Kevin Crane gets himself elected, and re-elected Judge in the time Ryan Ferguson spends in prison. That's the crime here. Moreover, Crane is not even accountable to the voters until 2018. The Court of Appeals said the Ferguson verdict is not worthy of public or judicial confidence. Neither is Kevin Crane!

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  19. Hell No he won't admit it--And Never will but shouldn't he be put on trial like Ryan was--I mean why can't he be put on trial--he got Ryan convicted on no evidence and so why couldn't the same outcome happen for him. Obviously prosecutors don't face any wrong doing when they lose a case so why not try to bring him to trial among his peers and face the two that lied (Mr Trump and the Charles Erickson) and even call the girl back that testfied for the prosecutions that came forward and said that she was never asked if it was them. It got him a conviction so why wouldn't it work on him---Oh because he's a Judge and an upstanding member of the community--Bullshit! There is no such of a person these days because we have all done something that wasn't right in life one time or another. But putting someone away for life--that's another thing--He might as well have walked up to Ryan, put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger himself only to find out that Ryan lived and made a full recovery nearly 10 yrs later. The first thing that needs to happen is that the Bar pulls his license to practice law and he be put in leave without pay until the matter is resolved. Amd if convicted he should have to spend everyday behind bars with no early release. You start putting some if these corrupt people behind bars and they'll stop trying to get convictions on innocent people

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  20. At the very least, he shouldn't be a judge or anything else in the criminal justice system. He should be a janitor so he can't hurt anyone.

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  21. Kevin Crane is a disgusting POS,too many of these prosecutors are more interested in the win than the truth.I hope he burns in hell for what he did to that kid and god knows how many others.

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  22. How scary that this evil P.O.S. has the power to determine someone's fate! I KNOW this asshole will rot in hell as is the least that he deserves for being so corrupt. Shame on anyone who defends this horrible excuse of a human being!!

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  23. How these bastards can do this with impunity blows my mind. This is an outrage that has been going on for decades. Being unable to file a civil suit against these tyrants is an outrage. And Zellner makes her millions by doing just that. It has got to be almost commonplace for guys like Crane and his pal Ken Kratz to railroad or bolster a weak case. These dogs need not go to county jail for 10 days but to prison with a stiff sentence commensurate with the time their victims spent to deter them from the practice. 20X more dangerous than a crooked cop. Why do idiots continue to elect them in the aftermath of cases like this? You can put money this wasn't his first rodeo. Avoidable injustice fires me up!

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