Conn. police: Ex-Bush lawyer tried to kill wife

[devilgrrl]

Conn. police: Ex-Bush lawyer tried to kill wife
JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN
From Associated Press
January 07, 2010 9:13 PM EST

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — An attorney who worked in both Bush administrations was charged Thursday with trying to kill his wife by beating her with a flashlight and choking her two days after she delivered divorce papers.

John Michael Farren, 57, was arraigned on charges of strangulation and attempted murder and ordered held on $2 million bail.

His wife, Mary Farren, was beaten so severely Wednesday night at their New Canaan home that she was at points knocked unconscious and lost vision, police said. She managed to sound an alarm and flee the house with her two children.

Farren was general counsel at Xerox Corp. in 2007 when he was named deputy White House counsel during George W. Bush's second term. He was previously undersecretary for international trade in the Commerce Department under Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush; deputy manager for the elder Bush's 1992 re-election campaign; and deputy director for his transition team in 1989.

"We are saddened to hear the news," said David Sherzer, spokesman for George W. Bush. "This is a personal matter and we will not be commenting on it."

John Farren's lawyer, Eugene Riccio, called it "a tragic situation" Thursday.

Mary Farren is stable at a hospital with a broken nose, broken jaw and other injuries. Her attorney, Andrew Bowman, declined to comment.

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