Former White House Attorney, Sentenced 15 Years for Attempted Murder

John Michael Farren, found guilty by a jury in July of attempted murder of his wife in New Canaan, was sentenced Thursday in state Superior Court in Stamford to 15 years in prison.

Judge Richard Comerford denied Farren bond as he appeals the conviction, according to a report in the Stamford Advocate. Comerford said Farren’s wife and children were at risk of danger if Farren was released.

New Canaan police who responded to a call made from a neighbor’s home at the time of the assault said they found Mary Farren there with a broken jaw, broken nose, cuts to her head and bruises elsewhere. As she spoke with police about the incident, police said, she was vomiting blood.

The Advocate report noted that cuts to her head left her skull visible, tufts of hair had been pulled out, and to this day she has a crooked smile due to nerve damage.

The judge called Farren’s attack “horrendous.”

According to the Advocate report, When Farren spoke, he kept his comments to his legal objections to the trial, which he is appealing — that the trial was conducted despite a stay being in place and that he didn’t have his choice of attorney.

Comerford said it was “disgusting” that Farren didn’t take the opportunity to apologize directly to his former wife, who was present in the courtroom.