Police Charge Former Bush Lawyer With Attempted Murder

John Michael Farren, 57, a former lawyer in the Bush administration, has been charged with attempted murder and strangulation in the first degree after the panic alarm was activated at his house on Wahackme Road and a neighbor called 911 Wednesday night.

Farren had been served with divorce papers Monday, Jan. 4, while his 43-year-old wife was out of the house. The attack allegedly began after he brought up the suit, saying he wanted to get back together.  

According to her statements recorded in police reports, when she told him she wouldn't drop the divorce case he began hitting her with a metal flashlight to the point that she passed out. When she came to he started hitting her with the flashlight again and strangling her with his bare hands.

As the struggle continued, Farren's wife, now temporarily blind from the assault, fumbled for the panic button which she eventually reached around 10 p.m., sending him into a further rage.

He threatened suicide, went to get a large knife and then into the bathroom and attempted to get his wife into the bathroom as well. Police photos later showed slit marks on Farren's wrists.

At that point she ran, grabbing her seven-year-old and four-month-old daughters, and driving to the first house she saw with the lights on. Neighbors there dialed 911 and got the children from the car—the baby was lying on the front passenger seat, the older girl sitting in the back in pajamas and bare feet.

Officers responding to the the neighbor's house found Farren's wife collapsed on the floor in the foyer near the entrance, bleeding profusely. She is now in stable condition at a local hospital with a broken jaw, broken nose; lacerations to her head have been stitched up and she has bruising on other parts of her body.

Farren's wife was vomiting blood as she delivered her testimony to police. An officer's report said she also appeared to be losing consciousness as she spoke, "frantically" giving the phone number of a relative in case she died.

After his wife fled, Farren had retreated into the house. A police dispatcher contacted him by phone, and he exited the house voluntarily through a side door with his hands over his head. Police then took him into custody without incident. He was held on $2 million bond and arraigned in Norwalk Superior Court Thursday morning. He is on suicide watch, after reportedly making statements to police that he wanted to kill himself.

Police are in the process of executing a search warrant at the residence and say they will release more details as they become available. Court records show his wife has taken out a restraining order against Farren. Reports of child abuse or neglect have also been filed because the children were present during the assault, although they were not witnesses.

She told police Farren had hit her only once previously, about three years ago, but that there had been ongoing verbal and emotional abuse.

According to a 2007 White House press release, then-President George W. Bush named Farren to be Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel to the President.

Farren had served as corporate vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of the Xerox Corp., according to the press release. He previously served as under secretary for international trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Earlier in his career, he served as deputy campaign manager for the Bush-Quayle Re-election Committee and deputy director of President George H.W. Bush's transition team, the 2007 press release stated.

Due to the nature of the case, it has been transferred to Stamford Superior Court. Farren is next due to appear on Jan. 21.

The children are in the care of relatives of Farren's wife.