TALLAHASSEE , Fla. — Circuit Judge Gary Farmer, a former state Senate Democratic leader, is facing a recommendation that he be immediately suspended after an investigative panel accused him of “pervasive and extensive” behavior demonstrating “a present unfitness to hold office.”
Farmer, a former trial lawyer, was elected as a judge in Broward County’s 17th Judicial Circuit in 2022 after six years in the Senate. He served as Senate minority leader during the 2021 legislative session but was ousted after a vote of no confidence by fellow Democrats.
An investigative panel of the state Judicial Qualifications Commission on Thursday filed a notice of formal charges against Farmer accusing him of repeatedly making inappropriate comments. It recommended that he be immediately suspended without pay pending the outcome of the proceedings. The commission makes recommendations about judicial conduct to the Florida Supreme Court, which has ultimate disciplinary authority.
The suspension recommendation also alleged Farmer “willfully ignored the requirements of applicable statutes or rules of procedure, or was unaware of the most basic elements of the law which governed his actions as a judge in the felony division.”
Farmer, who rotated out of the circuit’s criminal division in September amid the commission’s probe, had no comment when contacted Thursday by The News Service of Florida.
The suspension recommendation also said Farmer did not appear as required at a hearing in March.
The panel “believes that his misconduct is egregious and serious, and could clearly affect the public’s perception of the judiciary,” Alexander John Williams, an attorney for the commission, wrote in the 13-page recommendation for suspension.
“While Judge Farmer might argue that he has changed his behavior … the panel believes that in this case, the damage is already done,” the recommendation said.
The probe into Farmer began after a complaint about comments he made while presiding over felony cases in August. The panel found comments “discriminatory, offensive, sexually charged, and demeaning.”
As an example, Farmer “referenced and quoted extensively from a comedy sketch that makes fun of gay people,” court documents filed by the commission said.
“That is not the only time you used double entendre as humor in the courtroom. While presiding over the August 15, 2024, hearing you said, ‘Spring is here, I got so excited I wet my plants’ and ‘What did the shirt say to the pair of pants? Wassup britches!’ Apparently, these are some of what you referred to as your ‘exceptionally, exceptionally bad jokes,’” the commission’s lawyer wrote in the notice of formal charges filed at the Supreme Court.
The commission “became aware of numerous other instances involving comments and other forms of misconduct” while investigating the August comments, the suspension recommendation said.
While presiding over first appearance hearings on Oct. 15, 2023, Farmer made “numerous remarks that were wholly inappropriate, undignified, or discourteous, or otherwise behaved in a manner that is degrading to the solemnity of the proceedings, fails to uphold the high standard of conduct expected of judges, and fails to promote public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary,” the notice of charges said.
The recommended suspension also pointed to Farmer’s treatment of a defendant who had a court-ordered competency evaluation pending in a separate case before another judge.
Farmer “conducted an ad hoc, unscientific competency evaluation by asking the defendant random questions. Notwithstanding the fact that the defendant was already awaiting a competency evaluation in another matter, and had answered some of Judge Farmer’s trivia questions wrong, Judge Farmer declared her competent and accepted her guilty plea,” the recommendation said.
Farmer “was unable to recall if there even was a rule governing competency” when questioned about his handling of the matter, according to the documents filed Thursday.
“The panel believes that the pervasiveness and extensive nature of Judge Farmer’s misconduct demonstrates a present unfitness to hold office,” the suspension recommendation said.
The investigative panel said four factors must be considered when recommending that a judge be suspended.
“Under the right conditions, a single one of these factors might carry enough weight to warrant a recommendation of suspension: Here, the respondent (Farmer) touches on all of them,” Williams wrote.
The probe into Farmer began in October, and Farmer appeared before the panel for a hearing in December. The panel notified Farmer on March 6 about a second investigation and ordered him to appear for a hearing on March 28.
Farmer “provided no response whatsoever, written or otherwise, to the second notice of investigation, save his email on the morning of the hearings claiming that he had intended to appear,” the suspension recommendation said.
The judge’s decision “to not appear as ordered in the Order to Show Cause (hearing) simply brings his lack of responsiveness into high relief,” the recommendation said.
Farmer sent an email at 6:20 a.m. the day of the hearing saying he had an unspecified emergency requiring his “immediate, in-person attention,” according to the recommendation.
“I have learned important lessons on judicial demeanor and have avoided any further missteps. I can assure you I will continue to preside in this more appropriate manner,” Farmer wrote on March 28.
But Farmer also told the investigative panel, “I don’t think we can say, as judges, that we never — there’s never a light moment or a joke in court, so I don’t want to overstate it, but I am not doing bad jokes anymore,” according to the recommendation.
The notice of charges also said Farmer said he was aware that his behavior was “incongruous” with what is expected of a judge in court.
When asked why he did not handle a first-degree felony case, Farmer said the “dad jokes don’t go well in murder cases” and referred to “Night Court,” a sitcom from the 1980s.
“The reference to the television show Night Court seems to be particularly apt here. However much Judge Farmer believes he is like the fictional Harry Stone, it goes without saying that the circus-like atmosphere that made the television show a comedic parody of real life court proceedings is completely antithetical to the manner in which a real court proceeding should be conducted and violative of the Code of Judicial Conduct,” the suspension recommendation said.
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