| ► Attorney Derek Farmer of Columbus, OH; lying crook |
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Attorney Derek Farmer of Columbus, OH; lying crook  
The state of Ohio presented Derek Anthony Farmer with a law license in 1999 after he graduated from the University of Akron Law School.
The Columbus Bar Association found Derek guilty of the following misconduct.
Members of Charles Martin’s family consulted with Derek about him taking over in the appeal of Martin’s criminal conviction. Martin’s mother, brother and particularly his sister, Teresa Smith, believed in Martin’s innocence. Martin was convicted of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, and rape, in the shooting death of a woman and the shooting of her sister, who lived to testify against Martin. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 55 years.
During the disciplinary hearing, Ms. Smith testified that during their initial meeting, Derek told the family that if he was hired, he would need to write and file a new appeal brief. Smith further testified that during a second meeting that Derek said he had reviewed the initial appeal brief and that it “wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.” Derek then promised that his new appeal brief would be “in-dept and it would cover the things that were necessary.”
During his meetings with the Martin family, Derek led them to believe that he would definitely be able to obtain an early release from prison for Martin. This claim was patently absurd given the case against Martin, which included not only the victim’s testimony but that of another witness who identified him as the perpetrator. Based on Derek’s BS, the family hired him and the mother promised to pay him a $41,000 flat fee.
Derek then met with Martin and repeated the same BS claims he previously made to Martin’s family. Derek went further by telling Martin that the attorney who wrote the original appeal brief “should be ashamed” for writing it.
Derek then filed another brief on Martin’s behalf; however, in most respects, it was a nearly verbatim recitation of his predecessor’s brief. When she compared the two briefs, Ms. Smith realized that Derek had not produced a new and improved brief as he had promised.
Derek collected $9,000 from Ms. Smith for performing no useful services on behalf of her brother. He then had the chutzpah to argue that he was entitled to retain the $9,000 even though he couldn’t provide any evidence to prove that he actually spent any valuable time representing Ms. Smith’s brother.
As a consequence of his misconduct, the enablers for Attorney Misfits sitting on the Ohio Supreme Court punished Derek by gifting him with a complimentary 1-year suspension of his law license.
As we speak (ca. October 2012) Derek practices with the Farmer Law Offices at 100 East Campus View Blvd. in Columbus, Ohio.
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