LaSalle County Prosecutor Kelley Porter says 31-year old Angel Farmer of Peru claims to be a First Amendment fighter, but does her work through harassment and badgering toward security officers. That was her opening statement for Farmer’s trial which started Tuesday morning. She’s accused of battering a courthouse security guard at the Etna Rd. Courthouse in Ottawa on March 8, 2021. Porter says jurors will see how Farmer allegedly drove her shoulder into another courthouse security officer to get inside the courthouse that was under strict COVID-19 protocols when the alleged incident happened. She also says the Farmer and her brother Jacob wanted to be arrested saying they wanted a lawsuit on their hands.
Farmer’s Attorney Wayne Slaughter says Farmer is like an independent journalist that wants to see if local government is functioning lawfully, which is why she wants to record videos for people to see and post them on her YouTube page called “Accountability Angel.” He says she wants to show that local government officials are corrupt and what she’s doing is a great service. He also says jurors have to find his client guilty beyond a resonable doubt.
Prosectuors questioned Deputy of Court Security Donna Ortiz who said that Angel had allegedly verbally abused her many times threatening to sue her and saying her dad died because she was an embarrassment. An hour and a half long video was played about a week before the battery incident and appears to show Angel and her brother Jacob Farmer entering the courthouse with their cell phones and recording everything around them which includes showing numbers of sheriff’s deputies. Angel also said anyone with complaints should call the sheriff’s department at their number, which Ortiz says jammed up the phone lines. She also says the behavior was something she’s seen before in previous interactions with Angel. Before she stepped down she was asked about the day of the alleged incident.
Ortiz says she saw Farmer and Deputy Officer Knoblauch at the north enterance to the courthouse where Farmer was allegedly trying to get inside the courthouse without permission. Slaughter tried to discredit Ortiz by talking about where she was compared to where the incident at the doors happened. Farmers trial continues this week. Her brother Jacob was found guilty last year by a jury and was sentenced to three weekends in the LaSalle County Jail.