Quote:
Originally Posted by blake5676
Yeah, I have the response. I was a sophomore at Mizzou when that happened. Don’t remember much of it while I was there as I was pretty much drunk and chasing tail 24/7 but I’ve followed the story rather closely over the years.
And I know that shows like Dateline and other documentary type specials can present a one sided story that serves their narrative, but I’ve never read or seen anything that led me to think he actually killed him.
What am I missing?
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I don't disagree that the prosecutor did some shady shit in how he pursued the case.
But the evidence that DOES exist is plenty damning and would've been sufficient for a conviction 9 times out of 10. And frankly, the people that 'recanted' did so under circumstances just as shady, if not moreso, than anything Crane ever did. Both Erickson and Trump shifted their stories more in their recantation of their original testimony than they did in providing the testimony the first time.
Hell, even in recanting, Erickson went from saying he did it but Ferguson was a bystander to saying he didn't do it to saying he doesn't remember anything so he's pretty sure he didn't do it. Meanwhile after he'd been imprisoned he provided details to associates that weren't publicly available (witnesses he spoke to, key locations and details of the murder) and even admitted to striking Heitholt. In interviews after the fact he spoke of his own mental impressions upon striking Heitholt and the sounds Heithold made when he was hit. Oh, and he wrote apology letters from prison to Heitholt's family after he was convicted whereby he admitted to robbing and murdering Heithold and apologized for same.
Funny how he suddenly had 'amnesia' when he was remembering this stuff in vivid, graphic detail. Accurately and in ways that were not available to the public. Erickson is 100% making shit up at this point.
But as you've noted, Dateline, etc... doesn't cover it that way.
Do I think the conviction was properly overturned? Yeah - we have rules and Crane didn't work within them. Do I think Ferguson is 'innocent'? Not even a little bit. I was in law school at Mizzou at the time and followed the case closely. The people who are 'recanting' now were 100% more credible and believable in their initial testimony than they were when they changed their stories a decade later. It's not even close.
I simply don't buy it. I think Erickson and Ferguson were absolutely responsible for Heitholt's death. The rehab tour that the networks are willing to provide Ferguson absent any sort of critical analysis annoys the piss out of me.