CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Next Tuesday, Michael Farmer is expected to be released from prison. He's served his five years for child endangerment. He has done his time.
But even his own sister says, it's not enough. She wants him locked in a mental institution where he can't hurt himself or anyone else.
"We're afraid of my brother," says Farmer's sister. "We're afraid of him. We don't trust him."
It's not just the abuse of a 12-year old that makes them fearful. It's the fact that, before Farmer could stand trial for that crime, he fled.
He ended up in South Africa, where he admits he killed three people and tried to kill a fourth person in 2000. His sister says he strangled his victims; two women and a 3-year old girl. She doesn't know why he did it.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters says this kind of person should not be out of prison. "Somebody like this, who has these tendencies. He's willing to kill a 3-year old girl, he has no problem killing anybody," Deters says.
The South African government found Farmer unable to stand trial and instead put him in a mental facility. In 2004, a US government document shows, they sent him back to the United States. That's when the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office made a deal with him to put him in prison for the child endangerment charges.
His sister says, "He got away with cold-blooded murder, and I'm not okay with that."
She worries he will re-offend if he's released next week. She worries for her, her family, for Michael and for the public. "He's a threat to himself. He's a threat to other people. It's not just my family I'm concerned about. I'm concerned about other people and him," she says.
"I wish we could send him back to South Africa," says Deters. "But we can't."
Instead, Deters is looking to have Farmer's sentence probated. That means a judge would have to find that Farmer is a danger to himself or others. Deters says it's isn't easy to do, but in this case, necessary. He explains, "If we're not successful keeping him locked up, either in jail or a mental institution, there's one of the biggest threats I've ever seen in my career living in our community."
A source close to the situation, however, says it's unlikely that the center Deters would like to send Farmer, Twin Valley Behavioral Center in Columbus, will not accept him because, even though he allegedly threatened to kill another prisoner, he did not act on it.
