Columbia, Mo. ? A jury has convicted a man of second-degree murder for killing a newspaper editor four years ago to get money for a post-Halloween night of underage drinking.

Ryan Ferguson, who turned 21 on Wednesday, was on trial for first-degree murder in the death of Kent Heitholt, a former Lawrence resident and a Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor who was beaten and strangled in the newspaper parking lot on the morning of Nov. 1, 2001.

The jury recommended a sentence of 30 years in prison on the murder conviction and another 10 years on a conviction of first-degree robbery. Boone County Circuit Judge Ellen Roper set Dec. 5 for a hearing to determine whether the sentences will run consecutively or concurrently.

The trial had centered on the memory of Ferguson’s former high school classmate Charles Erickson, the prosecution’s star witness and an accomplice in the crime. Erickson said he initially repressed his memory of the killing but began to recall details two years later after reading news accounts and traveling past the crime scene.

Some of those details emerged in dreams, Erickson testified. In response, Ferguson’s defense attorneys called upon expert witness Elizabeth Loftus, a California psychologist who said Erickson’s recollections were planted by overzealous police investigators.

Deb Evangelista, widow of slain sports editor Kent Heitholt, listens to closing arguments during the trial of Ryan Ferguson on Friday in Columbia, Mo. Ferguson was convicted of murdering Heitholt, a Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor who was beaten and strangled in the newspaper parking lot on the morning of Nov. 1, 2001.

“It is a matter of common sense that as time goes by our memory is going to fade,” she said, describing the influence of “post-event information.”

“It can cause an alteration, distortion or a change in someone’s recollection,” she added. “If that information is inaccurate, it’s going to make the person’s memory inaccurate.”

Boone County prosecutor Kevin Crane said, though, that Columbia police didn’t interrogate Erickson until after he had talked with two friends about committing the crime.

Erickson pleaded guilty in November to second-degree murder in exchange for his testimony against Ferguson. He faces a sentence of 25 years in prison.

Heitholt, 48, was hit with a tire iron and then strangled as he left the newspaper about 2:10 a.m. Earlier that night, he was celebrating his fifth anniversary with the Tribune.

Ferguson, who maintained his innocence, testified that Erickson confronted him at a New Year’s Eve party on Dec. 31, 2003, with concerns that the two had killed Heitholt.

Ferguson attempted to distance himself from Erickson, referring to him as an “acquaintance” whose personality changed after they first met in junior high school.

The jury was selected in Lincoln County and brought to Columbia, where it was sequestered during the trial.

Ferguson – who was serenaded with “Happy Birthday” by friends and family members at the conclusion of testimony Thursday – reacted to the jury verdict without emotion, though he became teary-eyed as his father gave a statement on behalf of his son.

“I’d like to be able to hold my son before I die,” Bill Ferguson said.

During victim impact testimony, Tribune managing editor Jim Robertson recalled Heitholt as a dedicated co-worker whose experience covering sports in Louisiana, Texas and elsewhere inspired his reporters.

“He was a big, jovial teddy bear of a guy,” Robertson said of the 6-foot-3-inch, 310-pound Heitholt. “Everybody loved him.”

Ferguson faced life in prison with a first-degree murder conviction. As the jury considered a lesser sentence late Friday, defense attorney Charlie Rogers asked the jury to not sentence him to more than 25 years, the same sentence given Erickson.

But Crane urged jurors to sentence Ferguson to life in prison, the maximum penalty.