Charles Erickson’s Deposition
Video Link Removed
Above is the deposition taken by Kathleen Zellner from Charles Erickson (he says he does not go by the name “Chuck”) in November of last year. I have to tell you, I don’t get much from this deposition, because Erickson is just reading a statement, and not talking about things as they come to his mind naturally. That’s a real bummer.
Read moreHowever, what Erickson says still causes me concern. He wants us to believe he remembers some things for sure, but other things he just doesn’t know. Either he remembers or he doesn’t. The fact that he says he didn’t remember for two years until after a dream still hangs in my mind. I’d have to see more to form an opinion.
I think at this point, investigators or attorneys need to go back and see if anything Erickson is saying now really points to him knowing the truth. Does he know things that only the killer would know? If he is just repeating the same things as he did before, that was littered with loopholes, we know this is just another crazy dream and Erickson is unreliable like he was the first time. But since Erickson is saying he is a liar, that should absolutely be considered in the case against Ryan Ferguson.
One last note, I can’t believe they are allowed to broadcast his social security number. We needs laws on this stuff!
Thanks, Julie, for the link.
Voices and Emotions
Here is a phone call of a man, sadly, just before his death. I will tell you it is haunting to listen to, so if you are sensitive, you might want to avoid it. But what is fascinating is the tone of voice of the caller. At first, he sounds amazingly calm considering the situation. The way he says, “Our accelerator is stuck” really strikes me. If I only heard that part of the call, I’d have no idea this guy had any fear. I don’t think he believed he was going to die at first. He was still hopeful they would get help. But at the very end, when he sees what is ahead of him, in the last seconds, he realizes it. It’s chilling and such a tragedy. In a way, I wish I didn’t listen to it because it is haunting, but I feel it is valuable to hear how real people respond in real tragedies, so we don’t falsely judge someone, say in a 911 call, in a story with a different outcome. Thanks, Rob, for the video link.
Read moreI drove a Honda that had the accelerator stick. It was an electronic failure, if you want my opinion. My parents scraped the car after it happened. I was backing out of my parents driveway, with them watching and waving goodbye. I was borrowing their car.
I put the car in reverse, never touched the gas pedal because I was on a hill, but the car accelerated and the engine roared. I panicked, naturally, as I was going backwards down a driveway and had to turn into a road where cars flew around a bend at 30 mph. Thankfully, no one was on the road or I might not be here today.
My mom tells the story that my eyes got wide as golf balls and she knew instantly I was in trouble, bu there was nothing they could do but watch in horror.
I tried the brakes. Nothing.
I reached for the emergency brake and pulled like hell. It did nothing! No hope!
I realized in that instant, I couldn’t go backwards down a winding residential street. I would die quickly. I was prepared to hit an object. I chose my neighbor’s house, before I got going too fast. I would speculate I was close to 25 mph at that time. But by sheer luck, before I did that, as I looked down heading backwards to my neighbor’s house wondering what I could do, in a last ditch effort, I saw the keys dangling, and I pulled them. Thank god, I have a brain that works in high stress environments!!
My parents car, with me and two precious creatures in it, came to a stop just inches away from our neighbors house.
I was terrified. It took me weeks to get over, though I did drive again right away. Today I don’t know that I would be able to do that.
My parents never drove that car again. They had it towed away with a big warning sign in the window: dangerous to drive. It had an engine that revved frequently while in neutral (common for Hondas of that era), and it had once before accelerated on me, but came back under control within seconds, with no explanation. I wrote it off as strange, told my family, but we all ignored it. I will never do that again.
This Toyota debacle scares the hell out of me, because I’ve been there. If you ever find yourself in this position, pull the keys out of the ignition. It saved me from injury and possibly even death.
Here is more about this story in the video above.
Mechele Linehan: Wins Appeal
There is more breaking news today. Mechele Linehan’s conviction was overturned says CBS’s Crimesider. The courts have ruled that two key pieces of evidence presented at trial should have not been allowed. From Crimesider:
The first was a letter, apparently written by Leppink to his parents, that said in the event of his untimely death “Mechele, John or Scott were probably the people or persons that probably killed me. Do me another favor, make sure Mechele goes to jail for a long time.”
…The second piece of evidence that the court ruled inappropriate was the testimony of Lora Aspiotis, a former stripper who worked with Linehan at the time of the murder. She testified that Linehan’s favorite movie was “The Last Seduction” where a woman convinces another man to kill her husband for $1 million and gets away with it. Aspiotis testified that Linehan said the female protagonist was her hero and she wanted to be just like her.
I shared my thoughts about Mechele Linehan in 2008 after seeing her talk to 48 Hours. Nothing about her behavior supports honesty, if you ask me. I hope the next trial puts her right back where she belongs. I personally believe woman is a danger to society.
By the way, one of Mechele Linehan’s fiances posted a comment on my blog. Scott Hilke wrote the following about my thoughts of Mechele (3rd page in comment section), “Having known Mechele Hughes Linehan intimately for a number of years (I’m the “fiance” that isn’t dead or in jail for the rest of his life) I would say your observations are spot on.”
Thanks, Kirsten, for the update.
Accomplice: Ryan Ferguson NOT GUILTY
There is a lot of buzz in the news right now about the Ryan Ferguson case. In November, one of the top trial lawyers in the U.S., Kathleen Zellner, took on his case pro bono. She is working on an appeal to get a new trial at the circuit court level. I was very happy to see this as I have always believed in Ryan Ferguson’s innocence.
New information came out last night as well (Thanks, Stacy) that Chuck Erickson, in a deposition taken last November, changed his story. Erickson wrote to Ferguson for the first time since the trial and asked Ferguson to send his attorneys to speak to him.
Have your lawyers come speak to me the next time that they’re down here. If you tell the media that I asked to see your lawyers, or you tell the media what I talked to your lawyers about before I can talk to my family and/or consult an attorney, it will be regretful. I hope that you are holding up.(source)
Ferguson and his lawyers obviously complied with Erickson’s requests and met up with him. They took a deposition.
In the deposition, Erickson says, “I made up what I said about Ryan being on top of the victim.” Later he admits, “I lied about him strangling the victim.”
ConnectMidMissouri.com continues to report that..
Erickson says he was solely responsible for the robbery and death of Heitholt and says it took so long to come out with this version of the events because he couldn’t believe he could have acted so aggressively. He says he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of the murder.
I have never believed Chuck Erickson from day one, and I have always believed Ryan Ferguson was innocent. It’s about time!!!
If anyone sees this deposition uploaded online, please let me know. I want to watch Chuck make his statements to see if I believe this is the truth. I am still skeptical that Erickson isn’t giving us the entire truth, personally, though I think it is true that Ryan had nothing to do with this.
To read my original thoughts on this case back in 2006 before much was known, click here, or click on the the labels below.