Saturday, December 04, 1999
Cop-killer lawyer wins first case
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Derek Farmer, right, confers with co-counsel Kenneth Lawson.
(Tony Jones photo)
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As Derek Anthony Farmer stood to ask his first question in his first court case, the woman on the witness stand leaned forward to get a better look at him.
“Oh, I know you,” she said to the new attorney. “I've read about you.”
The trial Friday in Hamilton County Municipal Court would have been routine in every way if not for Mr. Farmer.
Everyone in the courtroom knew he was the man who was allowed to become a lawyer even though he had served 18 years in prison for murder.
All eyes were on him as he stepped up to defend a young couple charged with assault.
“You are the designated counsel in this case?” asked Judge William Mallory Jr.
“Yes, sir,” Mr. Farmer said.
Despite some obvious nervousness in the early going, Mr. Farmer and his boss, defense attorney Kenneth Lawson, won the case after a two-hour trial.
It was an auspicious debut for the best-known — and most controversial — new attorney in Cincinnati.
Mr. Farmer became the focus of a heated debate last month when he was sworn in as an attorney despite his serious criminal record.
He went to prison in 1975 after a jury convicted him of aiding and abetting the murder of a police officer and a civil rights activist in downtown Dayton, Ohio.
The shootings occurred as Mr. Farmer, then 16, fled after robbing a jewelry store with his 18-year-old nephew, Calvin Farmer.
At his trial, the judge concluded Mr. Farmer did not fire the fatal shots but still sentenced the teenager to life in prison. He was paroled in 1992.
Police, prosecutors and judges reacted angrily last month when they learned the Ohio Supreme Court had allowed Mr. Farmer to become a lawyer.
But Mr. Farmer's supporters, many of whom showed up to watch his first case Friday, say he has turned his life around and should be allowed to practice law.
His first clients — Eugene Butler and Teshani Cottie of Evanston — said they couldn't agree more.
“They know the law and they did a wonderful job,” Ms. Cottie said after the not-guilty verdict.
She and Mr. Butler were charged after a fight with Mr. Butler's ex-girlfriend and several of her friends. No one was seriously hurt, and Judge Mallory concluded the couple had acted in self-defense.
Mr. Farmer questioned several witnesses and helped convince the judge that his clients' accusers had rehearsed their testimony.
“For a new lawyer, he did a decent job,” Judge Mallory said after the trial.
Mr. Lawson made the closing arguments in the case and raised a legal issue that prompted the judge to change his mind and declare Ms. Cottie not guilty.
The prosecutor on the case, Alan Triggs, knew Mr. Farmer from law school at the University of Akron. He said he offered the defendants a chance to plead guilty to lesser charges, but Mr. Farmer turned it down.
“He was adamant about fighting for his clients,” Mr. Triggs said. “I knew he was a little nervous (during the trial), so I threw a few objections at him.
“Like any new attorney, he's not going to be treated any different.”
Mr. Lawson said that's the way he'd like everyone to view Mr. Farmer.
Mr. Farmer declined to comment, but Mr. Lawson said he hopes the media attention begins to fade now that the first trial is over.
“The first one is always going to make you nervous, but with so many people watching, it makes it even harder,” Mr. Lawson said. “I think he handled it well.”
Judge Mallory said the dispute over Mr. Farmer's law license was never an issue for him during the trial.
“He's licensed to practice law,” the judge said after the trial. “He had to start somewhere.”
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