Ryan Ferguson was released from the Jefferson City Correctional Center in Missouri Tuesday night after spending nearly a decade in prison for a murder that he insists that he did not commit.
Missouri's attorney general dropped all charges against the 29-year-old who was found guilty 10 years ago in the murder of Kent Heitholt, a Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor who was beaten and strangled in the newspaper's parking lot on Halloween night in 2001. The state will not retry Ferguson.
Shortly after being released, Ferguson walked into a news conference room to loud cheers and applause.
"I feel like Jay Leno or something," he told the crowd, adding: "The difficult part is over for sure," reports NBC News.
"I didn't know this morning I'd be standing here tonight," Ferguson said at the conference. "It was very scary, very daunting. I'm very glad to be here. I want to thank the Attorney General for looking at the facts of the case and making decisions based off those facts and doing the right thing."
He added, "I know what it is to be a teenager, I don't know what it is to be an adult in the real world, as nearly a 30-year-old. I look forward to finding myself out and learning what it is I enjoy and what I love about life and finding what my passion is and acting on it."
On Wednesday, he conducted an interview with his father, Bill Ferguson, on "CBS This Morning," calling his newfound freedom "amazing." He said. "You know, it's quite early in the morning. I haven't really had the opportunity to experience the day yet, but I know as it unfolds there will be new adventures, and it will be incredible, so definitely looking forward to getting into the day."
Last week an appeals court vacated Ferguson's murder conviction on the grounds that prosecutors withheld key evidence from Ferguson's defense attorneys during his 2005 trial and conviction. "Under the facts and circumstances of this case, we conclude that Ferguson did not receive a fair trial. His verdict is not worthy of confidence," wrote Judge Cynthia Martin in a summary of her decision, NBC News reports.
Ferguson was 19 when the newspaper editor was killed, however, he wasn't named as a suspect in the case until early 2004 when his close friend, Chuck Erickson, told police he and Ferguson committed the crime, reports Fox News.
However, in a twist of events, Ferguson's friend later recanted his confession and admitted that he lied at Ferguson's trial and that the two didn't commit the crime. Another eyewitness also recanted his statement that connected Ferguson to the murder. Nonetheless, last year the case was upheld despite a lack of physical evidence pointing to Ferguson and the two recantations.
Watch Ferguson's interview on "CBS This Morning" below:
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