Latest news with #wrongfulconviction
CBS News
15 hours ago
- CBS News
Ryan Ferguson, wrongfully convicted in 2001 Missouri killing, awarded over $43M by judge
A Missouri judge has ordered an insurance company to pay more than $43 million to a man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and incarcerated for nearly a decade. In 2004, Ryan Ferguson was arrested in the 2001 killing of a newspaper sports editor in Columbia, Missouri, and he was convicted the following year. His 2005 conviction was vacated in 2013 after a key witness who had testified against Ferguson said he wasn't involved in the killing. Prosecutors decided against trying Ferguson again. Ferguson took Columbia and a group of police officers to court in 2014 with a federal civil rights lawsuit, and he was awarded $11 million, according to court documents. Ryan Ferguson is photographed Dec. 2, 2010, at the Jefferson City Correctional Center, in Jefferson City, Missouri. Keith Myers/Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images According to insurance trade publication Insurance Business, Ferguson took legal action against the city's insurer, St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Travelers insurance company, because the officers could only pay $2.7 million. Ferguson's fight against the company spent years in state court. The officers also joined the lawsuit, claiming they experienced stress when the insurer wouldn't pay out, according to KMIZ-TV in Columbia. In November, a jury sided with Ferguson, and Judge Cotton Walker awarded more than $43.8 million to the plaintiffs on Monday, according to court documents. "He was thrilled," Ferguson's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, told KMIZ-TV about her client's reaction. "It was close, not entirely comparable, to when I got to tell him that, you know, the appellate court had overturned his conviction and he was going to be released. But this is a close second." The officers will get a percentage of the award, Zellner told the station. CBS News has reached out to Travelers insurance company for comment.
CBS News
a day ago
- CBS News
No new trial for "Starved Rock Killer" Chester Weger
There will be no new trial for the man known as the Starved Rock Killer, convicted in the death of a woman in the Illinois state park in 1960. Attorneys for 86-year-old Chester Weger had been asking for a new trial, saying he was wrongfully convicted. Weger first confessed to killing three women at Starved Rock State Park when he was 21 years old. He had been a dishwasher at the lodge. He told police he had murdered three middle-aged women from the Chicago suburbs eight months after their bodies were found, partially nude and beaten to death, in St. Louis Canyon. He was convicted of murdering Lillian Oetting, and also allegedly killed her companions Mildred Lindquist and Frances Murphy though he did not go to trial for their murders. Weger later claimed he had been coerced into making his confession, and told CBS News Chicago in 2010 that he had been threatened by the sheriff. He was sentenced to life in prison, was released in 2020 after being granted parole. All 24 of his previous parole requests had been denied since 1972.
CBS News
3 days ago
- CBS News
Chicago man who served over 30 years for a murder he didn't commit finds new life in theatre
A man who served more than three decades in prison for a crime he did not commit finally feels vindicated and validated. The same court that convicted Brian Beals officially cleared his name. Now a free man, he is already giving back to his community in a creative way. For more than three decades, Beals rehearsed in his mind the moments he is now experiencing. He now directs young men and women on stage in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood. "Excited. You know, this is like the dream," he said. "You know, started doing theatre in prison. We were filling up the prison theatre." More than 35 years ago, Beals was wrongfully cast as a criminal. He was charged, convicted, and sentenced to 85 years in prison in the Nov. 16, 1988, murder of a 6-year-old boy named Demetrius Campbell on West 60th Street in Englewood. At the time, Beals was a 22-year-old student at Southern Illinois University. But Beals maintained his innocence. "The entire time," he said. In prison, Beals found theatre — which helped him stay positive as time passed. "Slowly, hard, harshly — emotionally, a lot of loss," he said. The Illinois Innocence Project took up Beals' case, and helped overturn his conviction. He was released and reunited with family on Dec. 12, 2023. Beals fought 35 years for his freedom and earned it a year and a half ago, but that feeling of validation is still brand-new. "I'm still processing," Beals said, "but it feels good to have the state behind me." The system that stole years from Beals' life gave back the only thing it could. "His name, in other words, was not cleared until yesterday — when he received a certificate of innocence, which clears his name officially," said attorney Brian Eldridge. "It is a proclamation." Attorney Eldridge is in awe of his client. "And it's been just a privilege and an honor to represent him," said Eldridge. Beals now runs the Mud Theatre Project in Englewood. It is so named, according to the project's website, because "for many of us from underresourced communities, mud was our first toy. It's what sparked our creativity. Now, as we journey through life, we get our stories out the mud." Beals is no longer rehearsing — but instead just living the next act of life. "I'm still writing my story," he said. "We're just getting started."
CBC
3 days ago
- CBC
Small gathering lays ashes of wrongfully convicted man to rest, as family seeks probe
In a quiet grove at the edge of a Halifax cemetery, the family of a wrongfully convicted man laid his remains to rest and said his fight for justice lives on. Glen Assoun died June 14, 2023, but the family postponed interring his ashes until a gathering Monday, presided over by Rev. David Watt, a Baptist minister who stood by his friend over the years. "We laid him here to rest.… But I feel like the real rest will happen when we have a resolution and some people are held accountable," said his daughter Amanda Huckle following the small gathering. In March 2019, a Nova Scotia court acquitted Assoun in the 1995 killing of his ex-girlfriend, Brenda Lee Way. During 17 years in prison and five years under strict bail conditions, Assoun developed heart illnesses and suffered from mental illnesses. He only received a compensation settlement from the federal and provincial governments about two years before he died at the age of 67. Almost five years ago, the province requested the police oversight body begin a formal probe into whether officers broke the law when they destroyed evidence relevant to Assoun's case. In March 2021, the Nova Scotia police watchdog announced that to ensure transparency, its counterpart in British Columbia had agreed to be on the investigation. But on Nov. 30, 2023, Nova Scotia's agency announced the B.C. watchdog had dropped the case due to a heavy workload. Since then, the agency has reached out to multiple police oversight bodies and has struggled to find one that will take the case. Erin Nauss, the director of the Serious Incident Response Team, said in an email Monday that she had "hoped to have an update," but isn't yet in a position to share information about the next steps. "I want to assure you that my focus and our work on moving this investigation forward has not wavered. I will provide an update when there is more to say," she wrote. Huckle said the family's expectations aren't wavering, as this is an important part of how they can move forward. "This (interment) is closure for us in some aspects but there's still that lingering door that is still open," she said. During the ceremony, Assoun's ashes were placed in a marble bench inscribed with the Gibson guitars he loved to play. Family members each touched the sides of the enclosure. Tanya Assoun, his eldest daughter, read an April 19, 2009, letter he'd written to her from prison, telling her he missed her and advising, "Be strong and think positive … set your bar high. Through the grace of God justice will prevail." "He always wanted the best for me," she said after the service. "Even though he was in prison, he would always say those things to me." During the gathering, Watt read Bible verses and recalled "the blessing of memories," including sitting and eating meals with Assoun, who was his roommate for two years after his release. As the group walked away from the secluded spot, Watt said his friend would have liked the nature path and the tranquil spot where his bench is set. The only sound through the day was of a slight June breeze. Amanda Huckle agreed. "My dad deserved peace. He deserves this peace," she said.
CTV News
3 days ago
- CTV News
Small gathering lays ashes of wrongfully convicted man to rest, as family seeks probe
Glen Assoun is embraced by his daughter Amanda Huckle at Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax on Friday, March 1, 2019. Assoun, who died in June 2023 at age 67, was acquitted in March 2019 of the 1995 killing of his ex-girlfriend, Brenda Lee Anne Way, after spending almost 17 years in prison. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan HALIFAX — In a quiet grove at the edge of a Halifax cemetery, the family of a wrongfully convicted man laid his remains to rest, and said his fight for justice lives on. Glen Assoun died June 14, 2023, but the family postponed interring his ashes until a gathering Monday, presided over by Rev. David Watt, a Baptist minister who stood by his friend over the years. 'We laid him here to rest .... But I feel like the real rest will happen when we have a resolution and some people are held accountable,' said his daughter Amanda Huckle, following the small gathering. In March 2019, a Nova Scotia court acquitted Assoun in the 1995 killing of his ex-girlfriend, Brenda Lee Way. During 17 years in prison and five years under strict bail conditions, Assoun developed heart illnesses and suffered from mental illnesses. He only received a compensation settlement from the federal and provincial governments about two years before he died at the age of 67. Almost five years ago, the province requested the police oversight body begin a formal probe into whether officers broke the law when they destroyed evidence relevant to Assoun's case. In March 2021, the Nova Scotia police watchdog announced that to ensure transparency, its counterpart in British Columbia had agreed to be on the investigation. But on Nov. 30, 2023, Nova Scotia's agency announced the B.C. watchdog had dropped the case due to a heavy workload. Since then, the agency has reached out to multiple police oversight bodies and has struggled to find one that will take the case. Erin Nauss, the director of the Serious Incident Response Team, said in an email Monday that she had 'hoped to have an update,' but isn't yet in a position to share information about the next steps. 'I want to assure you that my focus and our work on moving this investigation forward has not wavered. I will provide an update when there is more to say,' she wrote. Huckle said the family's expectations aren't wavering, as this is an important part of how they can move forward. 'This (interment) is closure for us in some aspects but there's still that lingering door that is still open,' she said. During the ceremony, Assoun's ashes were placed in a marble bench inscribed with the Gibson guitars he loved to play. Family members each touched the sides of the enclosure. Tanya Assoun, his eldest daughter, read an April 19, 2009, letter he'd written to her from prison, telling her he missed her and advising, 'Be strong and think positive ... set your bar high. Through the grace of God justice will prevail.' 'He always wanted the best for me,' she said after the service. 'Even though he was in prison, he would always say those things to me.' During the gathering, Watt read Bible verses and recalled 'the blessing of memories,' including sitting and eating meals with Assoun, who was his roommate for two years after his release. As the group walked away from the secluded spot, Watt said his friend would have liked the nature path and the tranquil spot where his bench is set. The only sound through the day was of a slight June breeze. Amanda Huckle agreed. 'My Dad deserved peace. He deserves this peace,' she said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2025. By Michael Tutton
