Ryan Ferguson: “incredibly easy” to get wrongly convicted

By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma

Ryan Ferguson was released yesterday after spending ten years in a Missouri prison based on false testimony by two witnesses. No physical evidence tied him to the murder. One of the witnesses claimed to be his accomplice in the murder, and recanted in a videotaped statement in 2005. Witness statements and testimony were videotaped. Ryan is articulate and his story has been well documented in the media. He summed up the problem with wrongful convictions: “As you can see, really, to get arrested and charged for a crime you didn’t commit, it is incredibly easy and you can lose your life very fast, but to get out it takes an army.”

Ryan’s case is similar in some ways to Tony Yarbough’s — except Tony is still in prison even though the only witness against him recanted, DNA evidence shows a third-party committed the murders and went on to kill again, and he had an undisputed alibi. For more on the Yarbough case, please see our Free Tony Yarbough web page.