California IN BRIEF : SAN JOSE : Accused Slayer of 7 Tells of Obsession

A man on trial in the slaying of seven co-workers in a bid to get the attention of a woman he was obsessed with testified that he knew he should not be pursuing her “but I can’t stop.” Richard Farley, 43, said he fell “instantly” in love with co-worker Laura Black, who nearly died after Farley allegedly shot her twice during a rampage through a Silicon Valley defense contracting firm. Farley, accused of seven counts of murder and four other felonies in the February, 1988, incident, said: “The more she tries to push me away, the more I try to not have her push me away.” Black rejected his gifts and finally told him she would not date him “if I was the last man on Earth.” But Farley, who was fired for harassing Black, wrote letters, telephoned, drove past her house at night, joined her aerobics class and broke into her desk.