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Former Bush Attorney Charged With Trying To Kill His Wife
Rachel Slajda | January 7, 2010, 3:22PM
Former Bush Attorney John Farren at his arraignment
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John Michael Farren, who served as deputy counsel to President George W. Bush, has been charged with strangulation and attempted murder after allegedly choking his wife and beating her with a flashlight.
Police said Farren attacked his wife at their New Canaan home Wednesday night. According to police, she passed out during the attack but regained consciousness and fled with their children to the house of a neighbor, who called 911. There, police found her bleeding from her head, face and body.
She is reportedly at Norwalk Hospital in stable condition with a broken jaw, a broken nose and other injuries.
John Farren's lawyer said it's "a tragic situation."
His wife's lawyer, Andrew Bowman, told the court his client is "terrified" of Farren, according to the Advocate.
The Wall Street Journal identified his wife as Mary Margaret Farren, a lawyer with Skadden in Washington, D.C., who represents energy companies before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Farren is being held on a $2 million bond after being arraigned in Norwalk Superior Court today. He appeared in court in handcuffs, with bandages on his face and neck.
He is due back in court Jan. 21.
He was placed on suicide watch, according to the Stamford Advocate. Sources told the paper he may have tried to kill himself after the alleged attack. According to the Associated Press, the alleged attack happened two days after Farren's wife served him with divorce papers.
The judge ordered Farren not to have contact with his wife or their two young children and to surrender his passport.
Farren was appointed as deputy counsel under Fred Fielding in June 2007. Before that, he served as general counsel to the Xerox Corporation. According to his White House personnel announcement, he had also worked in the Commerce Department and was the deputy director of President George H.W. Bush's transition team.
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lousgirl84
January 7, 2010 3:44 PM
"His lawyer said it's "a tragic situation." Ya think????
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wyt
January 7, 2010 3:50 PM
So "You're either with us or against us," where being "against us" means we're allowed unchecked brutality, doesn't apply in Bushco marriages? Why it wasn't so long ago in Texas a man was allowed to discipline his wife however he chose!
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Renee in CA
January 7, 2010 3:58 PM
Not tragic, it's abusive and criminal. I'm just glad that she survived, because otherwise those children wouldn't have a parent to raise them.
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TexasSkeptic
January 7, 2010 4:07 PM in reply to Renee in CA
I absolutely agree. The tragedy would be for him not to get several decades in prison for this vicious attack.
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Rockridge
January 7, 2010 10:51 PM in reply to Renee in CA
Right. "Tragic." Another word that should be banned for at least one year.
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EastWest
January 7, 2010 4:01 PM
C'mon, people. What's wrong with some ol' fashioned cowboy family values? I think we can be pretty sure the b***h had it coming. You know what I mean: He wouldn't have done it if she hadn't made him do it.
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TexasSkeptic
January 7, 2010 4:14 PM in reply to EastWest
My criminal law professor told us there's an unwritten affirmative defense in Texas: "The victim needed killin'!""
Anyway, the guy's not a member of the State Bar of Texas, and it occurred in Connecticut, so apparently he's working to expand Texas-style "justice" to the East Coast.
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pinson
January 7, 2010 4:36 PM in reply to TexasSkeptic
The Bushes are as East Coast Establishment as East Coast Establishment gets. W was born in Connecticut. Texas was simply a more convenient political base for the family.
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dustbunny44
January 7, 2010 8:18 PM in reply to pinson
Texas has oil in the ground and no state income tax.
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TexasFilly
January 7, 2010 4:02 PM
Yet another example of Republican Family Values!
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commie atheist
January 7, 2010 4:12 PM in reply to TexasFilly
He's said to be a Christian; I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Buddhist faith. So my message to Farren would be, "Farren, turn to the Buddhist faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."
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mamiller
January 7, 2010 4:37 PM in reply to commie atheist
Nice!
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bibimimi
January 7, 2010 7:36 PM in reply to commie atheist
Faced!
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Veritas78
January 7, 2010 7:51 PM in reply to commie atheist
I'm sure Britt Hume can explain this all for us.
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shepherd wong
January 7, 2010 4:22 PM in reply to TexasFilly
When you lie down with psychopaths...?
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ClosetLuddite
January 7, 2010 4:33 PM in reply to shepherd wong
... Sometimes you don't get up.
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Icarus
January 7, 2010 4:54 PM
He was merely using "enhanced reconciliation techniques."
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gayinmt
January 7, 2010 5:01 PM in reply to Icarus
Well, you know what they say. If you love somebody, set them free. Or cripple them so they can't get away.
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Friction
January 7, 2010 6:17 PM in reply to Icarus
don't you mean "enhanced interrogation" techniques? All he was trying to do was get the b__h to tell him who she was sleeping with. Such very important intelligence that the end justified the means……….
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gayinmt
January 7, 2010 5:00 PM
Hm. Divorce and spousal abuse. Great family values. Why again am I not able to get married?
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hollywood
January 7, 2010 5:43 PM in reply to gayinmt
YOU cannot get married because ..... because ...... because you are a bad example to the children. Of course breaking your mother's jaw in front of the children is OK if there is one penis and one vagina involved,
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Weitberg
January 7, 2010 5:50 PM
According to Karl Rove, John Farren did nothing wrong - it was his wife who failed, at staying alive.
TheWeekinRebuke.com
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serge
January 7, 2010 6:08 PM
I simply cannot imagine doing this to anyone, that it is to your wife and the mother of your children is appalling. Circumstances notwithstanding.
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ws84
January 7, 2010 7:17 PM
Abusers and bullies. Publicly and privately.
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Pietr
January 7, 2010 7:21 PM
I am appalled by the insensitivity of the great majority of those responding to this sorry news item.
John Farren and his wife are involved in a great tragedy. As far as I know, both are admirable people whose lives have been ripped asunder. Both of them should deserve our pity and good wishes.
I respect anybody, unless there is strong evidence to the contrary, who has served in the White House.
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billbrock
January 7, 2010 7:36 PM in reply to Pietr
Three disconnected comments:
John Farren may indeed deserve our pity, but he is not an admirable person. On this, one might hope for bipartisan consensus.
Most rational people would like to respect the opposition. Sometimes the opposition makes this difficult.
Schadenfreude is best enjoyed in moderation.
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mjtrac2
January 7, 2010 7:51 PM in reply to Pietr
You know, I'd just been thinking the exact opposite.
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OceanDog
January 7, 2010 8:45 PM in reply to Pietr
"I respect anybody, unless there is strong evidence to the contrary, who has served in the White House."
Methinks this guy beating the crap out of his wife and almost leaving their children parentless doesn't deserve a single ounce of respect, regardless of where he worked.
Put him in general population and let's see how much of a tough guy he really is... Tough guy likes to knock out his wife, let's see him do that with the gangsters behind bars.
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skippy
January 7, 2010 8:57 PM in reply to Pietr
john farren and his wife are involved in a great tragedy. as far as i know, both are admirable people whose lives have been ripped asunder. both of them should deserve our pity and good wishes.
ya know, the 9/11 terrorists were also involved in a great tragedy.
those who choose to perpetrate violent crime are not "involved in a great tragedy," they create the tragedy, and therefore are not worthy of my "pity and good wishes", thank you very much.
i respect anybody, unless there is strong evidence to the contrary, who has served in the white house.
and testimony from the victim, plus medical evidence and police reports, that's not strong enough evidence for you?
or perhaps you just meant that you respect anybody who served in the white house, unless there's strong evidence they didn't serve in the white house?
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Acharn
January 7, 2010 10:04 PM in reply to Pietr
The people who work at the White House do not deserve automatic respect. Like all other people, they must earn our respect by demonstrating integrity. There has always been suspicion of the integrity of White House staff and Presidential advisers, but the bus really went off the cliff during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. It's never recovered since. Actually, I think the whole country has been secretly following the wrong path since the McKinley administration.
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AJM
January 7, 2010 11:45 PM in reply to Pietr
And a semi-strangled wife is not strong evidence to the contrary?
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ericAZ
January 8, 2010 8:37 AM in reply to Pietr
The guy is a lawyer, a bully, a Bush apologist and a violent criminal. He deservers what?
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bibimimi
January 7, 2010 7:30 PM
Quiet man. Kept to himself. Knuckles as white as snow. G-Dub's kinda guy.
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iamwil
January 7, 2010 7:42 PM
Off to Gitmo with him, post haste!
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smartalek
January 7, 2010 8:44 PM
"I respect anybody, unless there is strong evidence to the contrary, who has served in the White House."
Pietr JANUARY 7, 2010 7:21 PM
"strong evidence to the contrary:" 2001-2008
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Manix
January 7, 2010 8:58 PM
He should have called his colleague Cheney over and he could of
water-boarded her instead.
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ericg
January 7, 2010 11:18 PM in reply to Manix
I was more thinking that he should have had Cheney shoot her in the face with a shotgun.
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cinesimon
January 7, 2010 9:25 PM
He probably had a Cheney moment: the towel wrapped around her head after a shower probably looked too muchy like a burqa...
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Joe Bob
January 8, 2010 12:17 AM
One curious thing I find in all of the press items is that none of them say what Farren has been up to, professionally, for the past year. The articles spell out all of his career moves up to and including the GWB administration...and then nothing.
I mean, I know things are tough all over but a year is a long time for a high-powered lawyer to sit things out. Is there enough of a taint from being W's deputy counsel to hurt job prospects that much? Was he anticipating legal troubles of his own due to things like the US Attorney firings and missing White House emails?
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Ted
January 8, 2010 1:55 AM in reply to Joe Bob
You've made the most cogent point in this whole comment thread.
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GTFOOH
January 8, 2010 12:32 AM
His wife should have gotten a clue, after he and his cohorts attempted to strangle America
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again
January 8, 2010 2:03 AM in reply to GTFOOH
that's the best line here
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monet768
January 8, 2010 8:43 AM
Another dirty pig that has lost power
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Netgk
January 8, 2010 9:28 AM
Thank god they weren't gay. That would have weakened the institution of marriage.
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Netgk
January 8, 2010 9:34 AM
Wait, I see what's going on here. All those gays getting married weakened the Farrens' marriage. After them!
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Tosh
March 12, 2010 5:49 PM
wow he looks like he did it lol
kamagra m65
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