Ex-Bush lawyer pleads not guilty in Conn. to trying to kill wife after she sought divorce
By APThursday, January 21, 2010
Ex-Bush lawyer pleads not guilty in attack on wife
STAMFORD, Conn. — An attorney who worked in both Bush administrations has pleaded not guilty to Connecticut charges that he tried to kill his wife by beating her with a flashlight and choking her two days after she delivered divorce papers.
Fifty-seven-year-old John Michael Farren appeared Thursday in Stamford Superior Court. Farren’s lawer, Eugene Riccio, said Farren pleaded not guilty to charges of strangulation, attempted murder and a new charge of first-degree assault.
Police say his wife, Mary Farren, was beaten so severely Jan. 6 at their New Canaan home that she was at points knocked unconscious and lost vision.
Farren was deputy White House counsel during President George W. Bush’s second term. He was undersecretary for international trade in the Commerce Department under Bush’s father, President George H.W. Bush.
