Saturday, December 04, 1999
Second judge rejects Farmer
Fears he'd be unfair to attorney's clients
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Another Hamilton County judge says he will refuse to handle cases involving the attorney who once went to prison for murder.
Municipal Court Judge David Stockdale notified court officials Friday that he does not want to be assigned any cases involving Derek Anthony Farmer.
His decision comes two weeks after another judge — Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman — declared that he could not be fair to Mr. Farmer because he was so angered that Mr. Farmer was allowed to be come a lawyer.
Judge Stockdale said he also is troubled and fears that his opinions about Mr. Farmer would raise questions about whether he could be fair to Mr. Farmer's clients.
“I question in my mind whether I could be fair and impartial in a case involving Mr. Farmer,” Judge Stockdale said. “The situation is really bothersome to me.”
Mr. Farmer was convicted in 1975 of aiding and abetting the shooting deaths of a police officer and a civil-rights activist in Dayton, Ohio.
The judge at his trial concluded that Mr. Farmer, then 16, did not fire the fatal shots, but he was sentenced to life in prison. He was paroled in 1992.
He received a law degree in 1998 and was approved to practice law this year by the Ohio Supreme Court.
His defenders say he has earned a second chance. The Greater Cincinnati Defense Lawyers Association recently voted to support Mr. Farmer and plans to send a letter to judges next week.
The letter urges judges to “not engage in inappropriate or potentially unethical conduct by punishing a defendant because he is represented by Mr. Farmer.”
“Mr. Farmer has made a significant impression on those willing to give him a chance,” the letter states. “We ask that you give Mr. Farmer the same chance.”
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