An assistant Missouri attorney general has been appointed as a special prosecutor as the state considers whether to re-try a Columbia man for the 2001 slaying of a sports editor.
Boone County Prosecutor Dan Knight said Friday that he had a conflict of interest in Ryan Ferguson's case. He noted that an appeals court decision overturning Ferguson's conviction cited the actions of an investigator for the prosecutor's office.
A judge on Friday appointed Assistant Attorney General Susan Boresi to serve as a special prosecutor.
Ferguson was convicted of murder and robbery in the slaying of Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt. But an appeals court ruled Tuesday that the prosecution had wrongly withheld evidence from defense attorneys and said Ferguson did not get a fair trial.