San Jose serial cat killer gets 16-year sentence

Thumper was one of up to 16 San Jose cats slain by Robert Farmer, 26. Thumper was one of up to 16 San Jose cats slain by Robert Farmer, 26. Photo: Myriam Martinez / Myriam Martinez Photo: Myriam Martinez / Myriam Martinez Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close San Jose serial cat killer gets 16-year sentence 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A serial cat killer in San Jose who pleaded guilty to torturing and dismembering a number of beloved neighborhood felines was sentenced Friday to a maximum term of 16 years in jail.

Robert Farmer, 26, pleaded guilty in October to 21 felony counts of animal cruelty. Though Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Sharon Chatman imposed the strictest sentence she could on Farmer, she did not require him to register as a sex offender as county prosecutors had requested.

Prosecutors and owners of the cats alleged that Farmer had sexually abused one of the slain felines, but the judge rejected that argument.

The owners of the dead cats — police say he killed up to 16 of them, though only four bodies were recovered — say that Farmer terrorized their Cambrian Park neighborhood in south San Jose for months, causing pet owners to keep outdoor cats inside as animal after animal disappeared.

Gayle Goodson, a self-described cat-lover — who owns three felines — and supporter of those who lost their pets, said the courtroom was packed. There were tears when pet owners spoke about “their beloved cats and what they meant to them,” Goodson said, followed by a “big sigh of relief” when Farmer was sentenced.

“We are disappointed that the judge did not” require Farmer to register as a sex offender, Goodson said, “but we understand her reasoning, though we may not necessarily agree with it.”

Dozens of animal rights activists had joined the victims in demanding a stringent sentence for Farmer, spurred on by an online petition that gathered tens of thousands of signatures. The bereaved cat lovers started a campaign to hold Farmer accountable — writing letters to the judge, calling up the district attorney’s office and creating memes demanding justice on a Facebook group called “Justice for our CATZ.”

Because he does not have to register as a sex offender, Farmer will serve his time — with almost two years in credit for time served — in county jail, not state prison. His attorney, Wesley Schroeder, said his client could be released in as little as 4½ years.

“He got max sentence 16 YEARS !!!,” a woman wrote on the Facebook group, adding a thumbs-up emoji. The woman wrote that Farmer “was murdering animals in the neighborhood where he grew up, among people who trusted him.”

Others chimed in, commenting that it was “too bad” that the judge didn’t include the sex offender requirement.

When Farmer is released, he will have to register for probation until the terms of his entire 16-year sentence are satisfied. Conditions of his probation include staying away from Cambrian Park, not owning or caring for any animal for 10 years and undergoing mandatory psychological treatment.

Police said they arrested Farmer in October 2015 inside a car, where they found a beaten and bloody corpse of a cat in a garbage bag, along with an assortment of collars.

Schroeder said the county’s probation officer had recommended a sentence of nine years, which the judge nearly doubled.

The attorney had argued that Farmer had for years before the cat killings lived with an increasing number of mental health issues, for which he had received no treatment. That, coupled with a methamphetamine addiction, did not excuse Farmer’s “horrific” actions, he said.

But Schroeder said Farmer’s long-running addiction acted as an “accelerant” to a spiral of problems that resulted in the death of the felines.

“The underlying problem was that the match had already been lit, but the meth just made it more extensive,” Schroeder said.

Farmer was stuck in a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation,” Schroeder said, adding that he hoped he would be able to help Farmer obtain counseling and medication while in jail so this does not happen again.