Mary Farren says her husband beat her while he was serving as an attorney for President Bush in the White House

By Pete Kotz in Politicians, assault, celebrity crime, homicide
Friday, Jan. 8 2010 @ 9:32AM
25 comment(s)
​UPDATE: Mary Farren says her husband beat her while he was serving as an attorney for President Bush in the White House. She's still hospitalized with a broken jaw, facial fractures, and lacerations, and says she fears for her life. See update after the jump...
Mary Farren tried to deliver divorce papers to her husband John Farren, the former deputy White House counsel to President George W. Bush. But hubby didn't want a divorce, and her urged his wife to reconsider. She was afraid of his temper and refused.So Farren tackled her in a bedroom at their New Canaan, Connecticut home and ripped out a clump of her hair. Then he beat her with a metal flashlight until Mary lost consciousness. When she woke up, he was still pounding away.

Mary Farren was beaten and strangled by her husband in front of their children at their Connecticut home​He began to strangle her as she was again losing consciousness. Despite barely being able to see, she managed to trigger the home's alarm system. Farren started beating her again and threatened to slit his wrists. He grabbed a large knife and went to the bathroom, coaxing his wife to follow. But Mary instead ran to her daughter's bedroom yelling "Daddy's trying to kill me!" according to a police report.Mary managed to escape with her 7-year-old daughter and the couple's baby. She fled in a BMW before stopping at a home to call police. Farren is the former general counsel at Xerox and once served as undersecretary for international trade under George Bush the Elder. He also worked as George H.W. Bush's deputy campaign manager in 1992 before being named to George W. Bush's White House legal team in 2007.But despite being a bigshot lawyer, he seems unaware that not even bigshot political appointees get to kill their wives -- especially in front of their children. Though the Bush administration's constant yammering on "family values" always seemed loaded with hypocrisy, this is taking that hypocrisy much too far. Farren is now being held on $2 million bail for strangulation and attempted murder. Mary, a bigshot lawyer herself at the Skadden, Arps firm in Washington, D.C., is in stable condition at the hospital with a broken nose, broken jaw and other injuries.

John Farren served as a top White House lawyer for President Bush and a campaign manager for his father​UPDATE: From her hospital bed, Mary Farren says she fears for her life.She told police that she's fearful her husband, if released, will try to kill her and possibly their 7-year-old and 4-month-old daughters too. "She adamantly wanted the police and court to know that he has an explosive and uncontrollable temper and he will kill her," according to the police report.Farren's now being held in jail on a suicide watch. His bail has been set at $2 million. Police believe he may have attempted suicide after brutally attacking his wife. He showed scarring on his neck that seemed to match his belt.Mary says this wasn't the first time her husband attacked her. She says he also beat her three years ago, about the time he became deputy White House counsel to President Bush. The creep shouldn't have any trouble making bail. The house he beat his wife in is 4,300-square-feet and valued at $4.8 million.