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5 Cornell J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 19 (1995-1996)
So Crazy He Thinks He Is Sane: The Colin Ferguson Trial and the Competency Standard

handle is hein.journals/cjlpp5 and id is 23 raw text is: SO CRAZY HE THINKS HE IS SANE: THE COLIN FERGUSON TRIAL AND THE COMPETENCY STANDARD Ronald L. Kubyt and William M. Kunstlertt The bizarre trial of Colin Ferguson was an obscene spectacle, a cross between bear-baiting and some weird skit in which inmates take over a mental institution and perform a play, the theme of which is a trial. In early Decem- ber of 1994, we spent our final efforts as Mr. Ferguson's trial counsel in an unsuccessful attempt to convince Judge Donald E. Belfi that Mr. Ferguson was not mentally competent to stand trial-that his mental illness was so severe that he could not assist in his own defense in any meaningful way. A defense psychiatrist diagnosed Mr. Ferguson as suffering from delusional disorder, persecutory subtype, a classic psychosis well-recognized by the Bible of psychiatric disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual (DSM). Persons so afflicted suffer from firm, fixed, immovable and false beliefs, colored by an overwhelming concern that people are plotting against them. Although the prosecution's own psychiatrist agreed that Mr. Ferguson could be delusional, he was not sure and wanted to do more tests (which Mr. Ferguson would not permit). In any event, opined the prosecution's psychia- trist, Mr. Ferguson is very, very paranoid. Not that one needed a medical degree to ascertain Mr. Ferguson's extreme mental illness; his past actions, including the Long Island Railroad massacre itself, seemed ample proof of that. During the period of time we spent with Mr. Ferguson and his other attorneys, we witnessed his irrational belief that there existed multiple conspiracies against him. For example, during his incarceration at the Nassau County Jail, Mr. Ferguson accused many of the officials of various crimes against him, varying from stealing his t Ronald Kuby received his B.G.S. from the University of Kansas in 1979. He received his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1983 where he graduated magna cum laude. After completing law school, Mr. Kuby began working for the law firm Kuby and Kunstler, a small civil rights firm, where he presently works. Mr. Kuby has represented many notable individuals including Sheik Omar Abdul Rahmen. tt William Kunstler died on September 4, 1995. This is one of the last articles he wrote and to his dying day he felt that the Ferguson case made a mockery of the criminal justice system.

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