Nearly 10 years after his arrest and imprisonment for the murder of Columbia Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt, Ryan Ferguson entered the Tiger Hotel on Tuesday night as a free man.

At a press conference Ferguson’s family held, the newly freed 29-year-old was greeted by multiple rounds of applause as community members and supporters stood on tables and chairs to welcome his return.

Ferguson, who addressed the crowds alongside his family and his attorney, Kathleen Zellner, joked that he felt like Jay Leno amid the overwhelming applause. He thanked his parents, Zellner, his sister and supporters, many of whom attended the conference.

“The work that they’ve done has been incredible,” Ryan Ferguson said to the audience. “I can get back to living my life.”

Ferguson also expressed his gratitude to Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, after the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, overturned the second-degree murder and first-degree robbery charges that were brought against him in 2005.

The convictions against Ryan Ferguson were repealed after the court found the prosecution withheld pertinent pieces of evidence that affected the outcome of Ryan Ferguson’s trial and subsequent 25-year sentence.

“I want to thank the attorney general for looking at the facts and making a decision based on the facts and doing the right thing,” Ryan Ferguson said during the press conference.

While Ryan Ferguson said he looks forward with hope for his future, his mother, Leslie Ferguson, said she has not yet adjusted to the reality that her son will no longer be imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, and will need time to allow the news to sink in.

“We’re just numb,” she said as family friends gathered to embrace her in celebration. “Maybe when I just get a chance to get away from the excitement of it all.”

After the Missouri Attorney General’s Office announced Tuesday evening that it would not file further charges against Ferguson, he was transported from the Jefferson City Correctional Center to Boone County Jail.

Ferguson and Zellner both said it was not immediately clear that he was to be released from prison, an event they had awaited for over nine years.

When Zellner learned that the convictions against her client had been overturned and that no further charges would be filed, she held up a piece of paper with two words to press up against the protective glass that separated her from Ryan Ferguson.

“It’s over,” read the paper.

With those two words, Ferguson learned that he would be freed. When he had to change back into his prison jumpsuit to be transported to Boone County Jail, Ryan Ferguson said that though he was confused by what was happening and wondered if he was being rearrested, he was not angry.

“Living in prison, you’ve got to stay levelheaded,” Ryan Ferguson said.

Ryan Ferguson gave no comment on Boone County Circuit Judge Kevin Crane, the former Boone County Prosecutor who helped convict Ferguson in 2005. When asked about Charles Erickson, the man whose confession originally implicated the pair in the 2001 killing of Heitholt, Ferguson said that he felt sorry for Erikson and did not believe he should be imprisoned.

He instead repeatedly thanked his supporters and family for maintaining his innocence, and said he was excited to begin his new life.

Ryan Ferguson said that while in prison, he worked hard to prepare for his release, even writing a book.

“I didn’t want to get out and still be a 19-year-old kid in my mind,” he said to the audience.

Following the conclusion of the press conference, as community members streamed up to the stage to congratulate the Ferguson’s, family friend Betty Marchionda said that the forgiving and composed tone of Ferguson’s address came as no surprise.

“It was the epitome of who he really is,” Marchionda said. “Just a gentle individual.”