Man with overturned conviction to have MTV series

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A man whose conviction in a Columbia sports editor's death was overturned after he served nearly a decade in prison will star in a new documentary series set to debut on MTV in mid-August.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reported "Unlocking the Truth" follows Ryan Ferguson and Eva Nagao as they examine three cases in which they believe the defendants were wrongfully convicted.

Ferguson got the idea for the show while in prison for the 2001 killing of Kent Heitholt, who was a sports editor for the newspaper.

Heitholt was killed in the parking lot of The Columbia Daily Tribune. In 2004, Ferguson was arrested after a high-school classmate, Charles Erickson, claimed he and Ferguson had participated in the killing.

Ferguson consistently denied any involvement, but was sentenced to 40 years in prison for second-degree murder and first-degree robbery.

Ferguson, who now lives in Florida, was released in November 2013 after an appeals court panel ruled he didn't receive a fair trial because the prosecutor's office withheld evidence.

He and his father, Bill, pitched the series to MTV more than two years later. Bill Ferguson said the show's goal is to highlight that anyone can be wrongfully convicted of a crime.

"There are so many people that have been innocently put in prison, and most of them don't have the money, the resources or the support to resurrect them from the prison system," Bill Ferguson said. "Hopefully this will open the eyes of the public that this happens."

Ferguson has a pending lawsuit alleging civil-rights violations were committed by six officers involved in the investigation.