Six Columbia police officers who investigated Ryan Ferguson for the 2001 murder of Tribune Sports Editor Kent Heitholt should be granted qualified immunity in a $100 million civil rights lawsuit, and a lower court�s ruling should be reversed, the officers� attorney has argued again in the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

However, Ferguson�s lead attorney, Kathleen Zellner, said she thinks there is little chance a judgment in the case will be reversed.

�We�re very confident it will be affirmed,� Zellner said Monday. �This judge is really � I don�t know if she�s ever been reversed. It�s very rare for a� federal civil rights �case to be reversed on appeal, particularly by such an experienced trial judge.�

Bradley Letterman, lawyer for the officers, filed his most recent brief in reply to Ferguson�s arguments on Friday. The brief says Ferguson�s arguments do not show evidence of any constitutional violations.

The Eighth Circuit got the case after U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey ruled against Letterman�s clients in August, saying Ferguson�s case could go to trial on five of the counts in his lawsuit. The officers still face allegations of false arrest, fabrication of evidence, conspiracy, reckless investigation and malicious prosecution.

Whether the officers are entitled to qualified immunity is the main issue in the suit and whether it will go to trial, be settled or be dismissed. Qualified immunity shields police from frivolous lawsuits, but if a court finds there is a violation of a constitutional right, it is waived and the case proceeds.

Letterman�s brief focuses on Charles Erickson�s confession, allegations that police fed Erickson details of the case and allegations that fabricated police reports influenced the decision to file charges against Ferguson. Erickson pleaded guilty to murder and robbery for Heitholt�s death and is serving a 25-year sentence at Northeast Correctional Center in Bowling Green. He took a deal and testified against Ferguson but now says he made it all up because he was incorrectly convinced he and Ferguson were responsible.

Among the issues brought up in the case was that police allegedly fed Erickson information about the case, which Ferguson�s lawyers argue led to a violation of Ferguson�s constitutional rights. Letterman argues in the brief that police actions did not make Erickson plead guilty and testify.

�Erickson did not adopt any information allegedly given to him at the time of his interviews and would have had all the information about the investigation at the time of his proffer and plea from discovery,� Letterman wrote in the brief.

More than two years after Heitholt�s beating death in the Tribune�s parking lot, Erickson had started to believe he and Ferguson were responsible. Police brought Erickson in for questioning. He confessed, which he has since claimed was under duress. Erickson also has alleged the prosecutor in the case, current circuit Judge Kevin Crane, pressured him to testify even though he knew Erickson was lying. Ferguson spent almost 10 years behind bars before his convictions for robbery and murder were vacated in November 2013 and he was released.

Letterman declined to comment Monday. He represents five retired detectives and a former detective who remains an officer in the Columbia Police Department. They are the last remaining defendants in the suit that at first included the city of Columbia and Boone County, then-police Chief Randy Boehm and Crane, all of whom have been dismissed.

Oral arguments likely will be scheduled and then the court will make a decision whether to uphold part or all of Laughrey�s ruling, dismiss it or send it back in full or in part to U.S. District Court.

Zellner said many civil rights cases are dismissed earlier in the process, which shows Ferguson�s case has merit.

Laughrey has �said that we�ve made a showing of a constitutional violation that should entitle us to a trial and the jury should decide the credibility of the witnesses,� Zellner said.