Boone County has spent just less than $100,000 on outside counsel hired to defend the county and three employees in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of Ryan Ferguson, and today commissioners were expected to authorize another $100,000 for the effort.

�We have no choice,� Boone County Presiding Commissioner Dan Atwill said. �We�ve been sued for $100 million. We take that seriously.�

County Counselor C.J. Dykhouse on Tuesday requested the $100,000 budget revision for funds to pay the four attorneys he hired for the case. Legal fees through June have totaled $92,700.

Dykhouse also said in the budget revision request to County Auditor June Pitchford and the Boone County Commission that he was �not yet in a position to represent whether that will be sufficient for the remainder� of the year.

The city of Columbia, through the end of May, has paid $36,700 to defend the lawsuit, said Sarah Perry, the city�s risk manager.

The lawsuit, which was filed April 4 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, names former county employees Kevin Crane, former prosecuting attorney, and investigators Ben White and William Haws as defendants. The revised lawsuit, which also includes the city of Columbia and police department, names 14 defendants and claims that the county has �customs, policies, and omissions in training that caused the deprivation� of Ferguson�s rights. A hearing on motions to dismiss several of the defendants is set for 1 p.m. Monday in Jefferson City before Judge Nanette Laughrey.

Ferguson was convicted in 2005 of first-degree robbery and second-degree murder in the 2001 death of Tribune Sports Editor Kent Heitholt. Last year, a three-judge state appellate court panel vacated his convictions, and he was released from prison. The judges found that the prosecution, led by Crane, now a Boone County circuit judge, was guilty of several Brady violations. The Brady decision requires prosecutors to share all exculpatory evidence with the defense.

Accusations against the other defendants, including the city of Columbia and eight former Columbia police employees, include false arrest, failure to investigate another suspect, destruction and fabrication of evidence, and defamation.

Dykhouse said hiring different attorneys for each party was necessary in case the legal interests of one or more of the county defendants conflict with the others. The potential for those conflicts is �more than theoretical,� he said. Crane is represented by Columbia attorney Dan Simon, whose billing statement for April and May totaled almost $44,000, with the county paying half the amount and Chubb Insurance paying the other half on behalf of Crane.

Haws is represented by Jefferson City attorney Michael Berry, whose billing for April through June totaled $10,700. White is being represented by St. Louis attorney Russ Watters, who also is representing Boone County. Watters billed $41,155 for legal work in April and May. Jefferson City attorney Scott Pool was hired to re-examine whether the county�s insurance policy with Missouri Public Entity Risk Management, or MOPERM, provides coverage for the federal lawsuit.

�Every insurance carrier has denied coverage,� Dykhouse said. He said the issue, however, �is still an open question.�

To date, Pool has billed just less than $19,000.

Dykhouse said he will have a better idea of how much more might be needed to defend the case after rulings on the motions to dismiss.

The county has shifted money from its statutorily-required emergency fund to Dykhouse�s fund for outside services to pay the legal fees. The city, which hired Overland Park, Kan., attorney David Baker to represent its defendants, is paying for those services through its self-insurance fund.