The Associated Press
MINEOLA, N.Y. Ä Colin Ferguson, who claimed an unidentified white man stole his gun and killed six people on a commuter train, has offered another theory: The killer was a black man who looks like him and shares his name.
Ferguson launched the first day of his defense Tuesday with this revised theory, after a morning court hearing of apparently pointless legal wrangling that left Judge Donald Belfi rolling his eyes.
Later Tuesday, after being told by the judge that he was spending too much time giving TV interviews, Ferguson gave another one Ä appearing on CNN's ''Larry King Live'' and insisting, ''I expect I will be acquitted.''
Ferguson, 37, is accused of killing six commuters and wounding 19 during a three-minute rampage on a Long Island Rail Road train in December 1993.
He grilled his first witness, Detective Brian Parpan, about computer files indicating that a Colin L. Ferguson Ä no relation Ä had a police record on Long Island.
Ferguson hinted that this man Ä black like Ferguson, with a similar build and height Ä could be the real gunman. But Parpan said Colin L. Ferguson had nothing to do with the case.
"It was not you,'' said Parpan. ''It's a different Colin Ferguson.''