Ferguson, Colin (1958-)

Colin Ferguson was convicted of 6 murders and 19 attempted murders stemming from a December 7, 1993, incident on the Long Island Rail Road. Before trial, Ferguson's lawyers announced that his defense would be temporary insanity directly caused by their client living in America's “racist” society. However, this defense was never formally entered, as Ferguson chose to represent himself during trial and maintained that he was not the gunman. He is currently serving six consecutive life sentences at the Attica Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison approximately 30 miles east of Buffalo, New York. This entry examines Ferguson's background as well as the details of the incident and his trial.

Ferguson was born on January 14, 1958, in Kingston, Jamaica, and immigrated to the United States in 1982. He lived in Flatbush, Brooklyn, taking business classes at local universities and community colleges in Nassau County while having periodic employment. On December 7, 1993, he boarded the 5:33 p.m. Hicksville-bound Long Island Rail Road train during the heavy commute from Manhattan to the suburbs of Nassau County. As the train approached the Merillon Avenue station in Garden City, New York, approximately 38 minutes into the ride from Manhattan, Ferguson rose from his seat and commenced firing his Ruger P89 9mm semiautomatic pistol. He walked along the aisle while discharging his weapon for approximately 2% minutes at both seated passengers and those later scrambling for the exit once the train came to a halt at the station platform. After firing 30 rounds, he stopped to reload his pistol. During this period, Ferguson was physically confronted and restrained by three passengers. Police, railroad officers, and emergency personnel reached the scene to discover 23 people were wounded by gunfire in the attack and 2 injured by the stampeding for the doors of the train during the shooting. Six of the [Page 297]injured would die, all from gunshot wounds. Along with the weapon and nearly 100 rounds of ammunition, police officers found handwritten notes on Ferguson detailing his hatred for a wide scope of racial groups, including Whites, Hispanics, Asians, and certain segments of his own race, Blacks; in particular, Ferguson noted his displeasure with those he regarded as “Uncle Tom Negroes” or Blacks who kowtowed to Whites.

The charges brought against Ferguson included the 6 counts of murder and 19 counts of attempted murder, as well as numerous counts of civil rights violations based on the seemingly premeditated racial motive for the shootings. Attorneys William Kunstler and Ronald Kuby, who initially handled Ferguson's case, planned an insanity defense based on “Black rage.” They argued that their client was made temporarily insane by the racial prejudice he faced in the United States for over 10 years since his immigration. They likened such a condition to posttraumatic stress disorder, which would have rendered Ferguson unable to appreciate the nature of his actions and would have resulted in a temporary disconnection from reality. They planned to argue that previous uses of posttraumatic stress disorder as a viable defense, particularly in cases of battered women, served as a justifiable precedent even though “Black rage” had itself never been used at trial. However, Kunstler and Kuby did not have a chance to introduce the defense. Ferguson insisted that he was not insane, and that he in fact was not the shooter though the prosecution had planned to introduce 40 witnesses identifying Ferguson as the offender; he then dismissed the attorneys and sought to defend himself at trial. Throughout the pretrial process, Ferguson refused to meet with psychiatrists, suggesting that they were part of the larger conspiracy against him. During pretrial motions, Ferguson was found mentally capable of standing trial in New York State by understanding the charges and being able to provide toward his defense, and thus was afforded the right to act as his own counsel if he so chose. Though he retained a legal advisor, Alton Rose, all courtroom decisions and actions were taken by Ferguson for the duration of the proceeding from jury selection to sentencing.

...