WAUPACA COUNTY (NBC 26) — Prosecutors are urging a judge to deny convicted drunk driver Scott Farmer’s request to withdraw his no-contest pleas and receive a new trial in the 2023 wrong-way crash that killed four siblings.
Farmer filed a motion in July arguing that the warrant used to authorize a blood draw—which prosecutors later used as evidence against him—was not properly authorized by a judge. His defense further claimed his counsel at the time should have moved to suppress the blood-alcohol evidence.
In a response filed Friday, the state argued Farmer's counsel was not ineffective for not challenging blood-alcohol evidence because any suppression motion would have been "meritless."
According to court filings, a judge approved the warrant by phone and instructed a deputy to sign the judge’s name to the warrant during the Dec. 16, 2023 investigation.
Farmer argues Wisconsin law requires a search warrant to be signed by a judge and says no judge-signed original warrant exists in the case record.
Waupaca County prosecutors counter that the warrant satisfied constitutional requirements because it was supported by probable cause, sworn testimony and judicial authorization. The state argues any signature issue amounted to a clerical or technical defect, not a constitutional violation requiring suppression of evidence.
The filing also argues that even if the warrant were defective, the good-faith exception would apply because deputies reasonably relied on the judge’s authorization.
Farmer was sentenced in 2024 to 37.5 years in prison after pleading no contest to one OWI count and four counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle.
The crash on U.S. Highway 10 killed siblings Daniel Gonzalez, 25; Fabian Gonzalez, 23; Lilian Gonzalez, 14; and Daniela Gonzalez, 9.
At sentencing, prosecutors said Farmer’s blood alcohol concentration was about 0.35, more than four times the legal limit. The sentencing judge described the result as a significant aggravating factor.
Farmer’s attorneys are seeking a Machner hearing, a proceeding used in Wisconsin courts to examine claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. Prosecutors argue the court should deny that request because the record already shows Farmer is not entitled to relief.
