Ten years to the day after Ryan Ferguson was arrested on suspicion of murdering Tribune Sports Editor Kent Heitholt, his attorney filed a civil rights lawsuit Monday in federal court seeking $100 million in damages and alleging misconduct by the Columbia Police Department and defamation by the prosecutor who tried him.

Attorneys Douglas Johnson and Kathleen Zellner of Chicago and Samuel Henderson of St. Louis crafted and filed the 50-page, colorfully worded complaint that names 13 defendants and alleges nine counts, including four constitutional violations, conspiracy to deprive constitutional rights, false arrest and defamation. They are seeking $75 million in actual damages and $25 million in punitive damages. It was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

The Columbia Police Department, city of Columbia and Boone County are named as defendants, the latter two because they indemnify the others accused. Individuals named are police detectives John Short, the department's lead investigator in the case; Jeff Nichols; Jeff Westbrook; Bryan Liebhart; Latisha Stroer; Lloyd Simons; then-Sgt. Stephen Monticelli; and then-Chief Randy Boehm. All officers except Stroer have since retired. Stroer, who declined to comment for this story, now serves in the department's public information unit.

Boone County Prosecuting Attorney's Office investigators William Haws and Ben White also are defendants. Haws is now a case specialist in the prosecutor's office, and White still works as an investigator. Boone County Circuit Judge Kevin Crane, who was county prosecutor at the time and tried the case, and Boehm are accused of making disparaging remarks about Ferguson to local media after Ferguson was released.

Heitholt was beaten and strangled to death around 2:20 a.m. Nov. 1, 2001, in the Tribune's parking lot.

Ferguson was arrested March 10, 2004, in Kansas City and was convicted in 2005 of second-degree murder and first-degree robbery. The case and Ferguson's staunch declaration of innocence became a media sensation.

A three-judge panel from the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District ordered Ferguson's convictions vacated Nov. 5. He was released Nov. 12. He spent 3,533 days in custody, according to the complaint, and never wavered from his assertion of innocence.

Ferguson's supporters have brought up many of the accusations before: that police did not fully investigate Tribune sports writer Michael Boyd as a suspect; police allegedly fed Ferguson co-defendant Charles Erickson information about the case and tricked him into confessing; and that some witnesses were intentionally left out of the trial because they could have aided Ferguson's defense.

Police allegedly used "coercive tactics" in interviewing Ferguson's friends, according to the suit, and also fabricated police reports and evidence to back up their claims of his guilt. The complaint alleges police made a jailhouse deal with a Boone County Jail inmate, Richard Walker, who told them he would "say anything they wanted him to say" in April 2004. Walker was caught with two shanks and plotting to escape, the complaint says, and lied to investigators in exchange for leniency.

"Clearly, the goal of making an arrest for the Heitholt murder was used to justify obtaining Ryan's conviction by any means, including concealing and fabricating evidence," the complaint says.

City counselor Nancy Thompson said she has no comment. County counselors did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Crane said he has not been served with the suit. He said he will continue to support the work of the police and prosecution.

"I cannot comment at this time," Crane said when reached by phone this morning. "I don't know if I'll be able to. If I'm called as a witness, I'll do my talking in court, and I'll stand on my judicial record as what I've said in the past."

Two witnesses at the trial, including Erickson, later recanted their testimony that implicated Ferguson.

Erickson took a plea deal and was given 25 years in prison for the same charges as Ferguson. He still sits in a prison in south-central Missouri as his attorney, Laura O'Sullivan of the Kansas City-based Midwest Innocence Project, prepares the case for his appeal.

This article was published in the Tuesday, March 11, 2014 edition of the Columbia Daily Tribune with the headline "Ferguson files civil lawsuit;�Former prison inmate wants $100 million."