Missouri Supreme Court denies Ferguson appeal

Posted to Police Beat by Lyndsie Manusos at 2:41 p.m., May 6, 2009

The Missouri Supreme Court denied Ryan Ferguson's appeal on jury selection policy from his 2005 murder trial yesterday, a Columbia Missourian article stated.

Read the post here

Ferguson is serving a 40-year sentence for second-degree murder and first-degree robbery involving the killing of Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt in 2001.

Ferguson's appeal said he was prevented from having a randomly selected jury because of a Lincoln County policy that allows potential jurors to be excused from jury duty if they perform six hours of community service, the article stated.

Valerie Leftwich, Ferguson's attorney, said in the article that she did not plan to raise the issue to federal court.