Former Bush Attorney Charged With Attempting to Kill Wife

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 05:37:06 PM EST
Tags: John Farren (all tags)

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In a very ugly case of alleged domestic violence, John Farren, former Deputy Counsel to George W. Bush, is charged with attempting to kill his wife, a lawyer with Skadden, Arps in Washington. The incident occurred at their home in New Canaan, CT.

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.

He is being held on a $2 million bond and appeared in court with bandages on his face and neck -- perhaps self-inflicted. He allegedly tried to kill himself two days before the attack when his wife served him with divorce papers. He's on a suicide watch. [More....]

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.

More here.

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Former Bush Attorney Charged With Attempting to Kill Wife | 18 comments (18 topical)

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All domestic violence is ugly. (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by Anne on Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 05:58:52 PM EST

But I know you already know that.

When people resort to violence as a form of communication, it means the social and psychological structure is broken, and nothing good usually follows.

One can only imagine what may have transpired in that house, among those family members, what those children may have witnessed, and what psychological damage was done, before things got to the point where a husband may have tried to kill his wife.

It chills me to the bone.

: I just was looking up a lawyer (none / 0) (#3)
by Cream City on Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 08:47:49 PM EST

working against domestic violence -- as a childhood victim of it -- and her backstory, after a fast mention of her went across my teevee screen.
Wynona Ward is my new hero. Look her up, Anne. Amid all the insanity in this country, there are the heroes on the backroads who really are saving lives and turning around troubled families -- like her own.

I remember a previous DV case (none / 0) (#2)
by Fabian on Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 07:56:21 PM EST

portrayed entirely differently - a misunderstanding, an accident - not a "very ugly case of DV".

What's the diff? The Bush connection?

Too cryptic for me (none / 0) (#5)
by gyrfalcon on Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 08:48:30 PM EST

Which case are you talking about? And who portrayed it as "a misunderstanding"? As with any crime, there are sometimes ambiguous circumstances. This does not appear to be one of those.


Possibly the Charlie Sheen case? (none / 0) (#6)
by Anne on Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 09:08:47 PM EST

It's the only one that comes to mind recently.


: not at all (none / 0) (#11)
by Jeralyn on Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 10:34:59 PM EST

: But that is totally ambiguous (none / 0) (#13)
by gyrfalcon on Fri Jan 08, 2010 at 12:04:35 AM EST

except for his past record. Nobody was beaten. The wife says she was threatened, but she was also quite intoxicated. I've also not heard anybody say it was a "misunderstanding" or an "accident."

Possibly because ... (none / 0) (#7)
by Peter G on Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 09:38:45 PM EST

facts matter?


that case the man said it was an accident (none / 0) (#9)
by Jeralyn on Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 10:32:21 PM EST

so did the woman and a judge ruled in his favor -- and the woman didn't have a broken jaw and a broken nose. Entirely different fact pattern, nothing to do with politics. In fact, I have more in common with the man in this case (both of us being lawyers) than I do with the man in the other case (a state senator and former cop).

Nice try, no cigar.


: So be it. (none / 0) (#14)
by Fabian on Fri Jan 08, 2010 at 06:22:14 AM EST

I've seen DV close up and personal and it is ugly. It's not unusual for a victim to claim injuries are the result of an accident or to protect the alleged perpetrator.

Brit Hume (none / 0) (#4)
by msobel on Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 08:47:51 PM EST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgMr_Zc3OtA
says that if he is Christian, he will be forgiven.

I am sure this will get more play than Tiger did, because he didn't try to kill anyone.

why is this news? (none / 0) (#8)
by diogenes on Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 10:29:02 PM EST

There are thousands of cases of domestic violence. Is this one being noted on a legal web site because the alleged perpetrator is an attorney?

Because this site is about crime that (none / 0) (#10)
by Jeralyn on Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 10:34:25 PM EST

is connected to politics. The politics of crime, the crime in politics, crimes in the news, lawyers, etc.

He was a government lawyer. And I'm interested in it. I write about what I'm interested in.


And it's important (5.00 / 1) (#12)
by shoephone on Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 11:20:55 PM EST

to highlight DV cases among the rich and powerful, be they celebrities or government figures. It helps to show that DV occurs all across the economic and social spectrum of our society.


and can be an example (none / 0) (#15)
by Jen M on Fri Jan 08, 2010 at 07:06:06 AM EST

for others, perhaps encourage them to run to the neighbor's and call 911 too


Not a snipe at Bush, I guee... (none / 0) (#17)
by diogenes on Fri Jan 08, 2010 at 06:19:41 PM EST

I take it that the fact that he was a "Bush" lawyer (prominently displayed in the headline) was purely incidental to the intent of discussing matters of the law and that if he were a member of the Clinton administration then the story would have been posted and the headline would have read "Clinton lawyer..."


: nah (none / 0) (#18)
by Jen M on Fri Jan 08, 2010 at 07:10:26 PM EST

Gosh, I've read the entire story (none / 0) (#16)
by beefeater on Fri Jan 08, 2010 at 11:22:56 AM EST

and fail to see what George Bush has to do with this incident. Maybe the headline should be that all lawyers are spouse abusers, is that what is being established here?