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1 Trial

Ferguson's defense counsel had proposed an innovative defense that he had been driven to temporary insanity by black rage, and that he should not be held criminallySee crime fiction for a survey of the fictional treatment of crimes and their detection and criminals and their motives. Crime Lake is a lake between Ashton-under-Lyne and Failsworth in Greater Manchester in England. A crime is an act which violates a law liableIn the most general sense, a liability is anything that is a hinderance, or puts one at a disadvantage. In accounting In accounting, a financial liability is something that is owed to another party. This is typically contrasted with an asset which is some, even though he had committed the killings. However, Ferguson insisted that he had not committed the shootings and chose to represent himself. Ferguson's attorney was quoted in the Associated PressThe Associated Press or AP is an American news agency that claims to be the world's oldest and largest. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, who both contribute stories to it and use material written by its staffers. As of 2004, A ( August 12August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 141 days remaining. Events 1099 First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon Crusaders defeat Saracens and the Kingdom of Jerusalem is established under Godfrey of Bouil, 19941994 is a common year starting on Saturday, and was designated the International year of the Family''. Events January events January 1 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect January 6 Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the right leg by an) as saying,

"Without a psychiatricPsychiatry is a branch of medicine that studies and treats mental and emotional disorders (see mental illness). The term alienist is an old term for a psychiatrist, and the term shrink (from "head shrinker") is a (sometimes offensive) slang term for a psy defense, Ferguson has no defense. There was no doubt that he was there, that he fired the weapon, that he would have fired it more if he had not been wrestled to the ground. There is no doubt that Colin Ferguson, if sane, was guilty."

Although more than a dozen witnesses testified that he was the shooter, Ferguson argued that he was being framed, maintaining that someone had stolen his gun while he slept and shot the passengers. "This is", he said, "a case of stereotypeOriginally a stereotype was an impression taken from a form of movable lead type and used for printing instead of the original type. This was generalized into a metaphor for repeating a set of ideas identically with no changes (as would have been possibled victimization of a blackAfrican Americans also known as Afro- Americans or black Americans comprise an ethnic group in the United States of America whose dominant ancestry is from Sub-Saharan West Africa. Many African Americans also claim European, Native American, or Asian ance man and the subsequent conspiracy to destroy him."

Some argue that Ferguson's attack was a hate crime, pointing to extensive personal writings by him expressing hatred for white people. However, the case was not prosecuted as such, causing many to argue that there is a double standard in the handling of hate crimes.

Before the trial, William M. Kunstler and Ronald L. Kuby attempted to argue that Ferguson was driven to mental illness through years of living in an oppressive and racist society. They argued that Ferguson's insistence on representing himself and not pleading insanity demonstrated his psychological incompetence to stand trial. This position was rejected by the presiding judge Donald E. Belfi . Ferguson was found competent to stand trial at the Nassau County Court .

Ferguson argued that the 93 counts he was charged with were related to the year 1993, and thus the charges had been fabricated by the prosecution. He also argued that a mysterious black man, with the same residential address, had committed the crimes. Later, he argued that a white man had committed the crimes. He called witnesses that identified him as the killer, and spoke to them in such a way as to provoke them to reiterate that identification time and again. Reporters described these moments of Ferguson's defense as "bizarre" and "surreal".

Ferguson was sentenced to 200 years in prison, on February 17, 1995. At the sentencing, Judge Belfi called Ferguson a "selfish, self-righteous, coward."

The death penalty was established in New York following the massacre.