Midwest Innocence Project takes Columbia case

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A not-for-profit legal group has taken the case of a man convicted in the death of a Columbia sports editor.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reported the Midwest Innocence Project has taken the case of Charles Erickson, who's serving a 25-year sentence for second-degree murder in the 2001 death of Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt.

Erickson's testimony in the case, which he has since claimed was a lie, implicated Ryan Ferguson, who served nearly 10 years behind bars before he was released in 2013.

The Kansas City-based organization works to exonerate wrongfully convicted people in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa and Nebraska.

Justin Scott, a spokesman for the Midwest Innocence Project, said the organization's legal director, Tricia Bushnell, is representing Erickson. Bushnell declined to speak about the case.

Information from: Columbia Daily Tribune, http://www.columbiatribune.com