As a result, 24-year-old transient Robert Farmer faces a total of 21 felony animal cruelty charges--one count for each of his alleged feline victims -- and two misdemeanor counts of simple battery and being under the influence of methamphetamine.
Because of the additional charges, Farmer now can be sentenced to as many as 16 years in prison if convicted on all counts, or twice the amount of time he initially faced, Santa Clara County prosecutor Alexandra Ellis said.
A preliminary hearing scheduled for Wednesday in the case against Farmer meanwhile was postponed in light of the additional charges.
"There's a very good reason we were continuing our investigation, it yielded 11 more counts," Ellis told a large crowd outside the courtroom in San Jose after Farmer's brief appearance. "Some of the victims have only been identified by DNA. We were able to exclude the original named victims from these 11 new counts added, so there are truly 21 victims."
Because of the extra charges, "the defense needs time to review this evidence and to follow up with their own investigation," Ellis added. "But things are moving forward, and I think this is a very positive direction."
Farmer has been in custody at the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas since he was arrested Oct. 8 near Hillsdale and Leigh avenues after police found him sleeping inside a car with a dead cat.
The orange female cat in Farmer's car died of blunt force trauma and may have also been sexually abused, according to a necropsy report from the San Jose Animal Care and Services division. The cat had vulva and rectal openings of more than a centimeter each, it stated.
A match between Farmer and DNA from the cat's claw was also reported in crime laboratory documents.
Cambrian Park resident June Rovai, whose gray-and-black tabby Traveler is still missing, said she was frustrated by the delay but at least the new charges and possible extra time behind bars for Farmer is worth the wait.
"I do, now that I hear what's happening and that he can get a maximum penalty of 16 years," Rovai said.
Myriam Martinez, whose cat Thumper is believed to be one of Farmer's victims, has attended nearly all of his court appearances. She also was not surprised by the postponement or the additional charges. Martinez said she hopes the new evidence will seal Farmer's fate.
"It's all good," Martinez said in an interview outside the courthouse. "We knew there would be a whole lot more [victims] once they started looking at the hair."
Martinez said more than 26,000 people have signed an online petition urging the court to give Farmer the harshest sentence possible.
Superior Court Judge Sharon A. Chatman granted Ellis' request to increase Farmer's bail from $125,000 to $225,000.
Farmer's next appearance is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Oct. 4.
(San Jose Mercury - July 13, 2016)
Earlier:
- California: Suspected cat killer, Robert Farmer, is the son of a retired San Jose police captain
- California: San Jose accused cat killer Robert Farmer sexually abused at least one of the felines he tortured and killed
- California: Suspected cat killer Robert Farmer, 24, pleads not guilty to animal cruelty charges
The hell with locking this thing up for __ # of years. Just put him down.
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