Former White House attorney held liable in ex-wife's beating
John Nickerson
Published 8:39 pm, Tuesday, December 17, 2013
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STAMFORD -- A Stamford jury Tuesday afternoon awarded the ex-wife of former White House attorney John Michael Farren $28.6 million in damages for nearly beating her to death in their New Canaan mansion in 2010.
The jury reached its verdict in favor of Mary Margaret Farren, holding her former husband liable for assault and battery and the intentional infliction of emotional distress about 90 minutes after Judge Robert Genuario sent them to begin deliberations.
The judgment capped about a week of testimony where 20 witnesses testified for the jury of three men and three women, including Mary Farren, 47, who took the stand for about 90 minutes testifying about the assault and the lingering emotional and physical injuries she sustained.
John Farren, 60, had represented himself for months in the civil case, but did not appear once at trial to defend himself or cross examine his wife's witnesses. On the day the trial was to begin a week ago Monday, Farren sent an e-mail to the court telling them he had entered a Hartford-area hospital and no reason was given for his hospitalization.
Judge Genuario said at the close of proceedings Tuesday that Farren had not sent any more communications explaining his hospitalization to the court.
Farren has been charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault and risk of injury to a minor and is facing a maximum 70 years in jail. No date has been set for his criminal trial and he is now scheduled to appear for a criminal hearing later in January. According to testimony at trial, Farren unexpectedly received divorce papers on Jan. 4, 2010 and had tried to get his wife, a high-powered lawyer herself, to rescind the suit.
Mary Farren, who had just given birth to their second daughter four months earlier, testified that she agreed to hold off on the divorce if the two would go to marriage counseling, but refused to call her attorneys and kill the divorce action.
While Farren, who worked in former President George W. Bush's West Wing as a deputy White House Counsel and before that as lead attorney for the Xerox Corporation, at first tried to win over his wife on the matter, but by the evening of Jan. 6 he became angrier until he snapped.
Before lunging at her, Farren remembered her husband saying to her, "I have done everything for you. I don't deserve this."
Farren said as the two were in the master bedroom of their 9,500-square-foot home, he sprang at her and grabbed her by the throat tackling her and began banging her head against the hardwood floor.
Farren said he then began beating her with his fists before grabbing her and throwing her across the room.
He then grabbed a Maglite off his nightstand and began beating her with it, she testified.
At one point she told him to stop and that they could work it out, but Farren told her that she was just saying that because she was scared that he would kill her, she said.
When she came to after passing out for a second time during the attack, Farren was not in the bedroom any longer and she got to her feet and hustled her two children into a car and fled to the first home she could see with lights on.
Police and medics found her lying in a pool of blood just inside the front door of a home on nearby Weed Street.
Video tape from the hospital just hours after the attack show her with a huge gash in hear head, cuts and bruises all over her face.
After the judgment came in Tuesday afternoon, Farren's attorneys Ernie Teitell and Paul Slager said the jury made the right decision.
"We presented the case and the jury has spoken. We accept their decision," Teitell said.
"We don't believe this is time for a celebration, but it is one more step toward justice taking place for Mary Margaret," Slager said.
One witness the jury heard in the case, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor Albert Sabella said that even though Farren held a half-million dollar a year job at the Washington, D.C., office of Skadden, Arps, it was questionable if she could be employed anywhere.
"Based on my review of the medical record & she would be unemployable for any job," he said.
As a result of a brain injury caused in the attack and emotional trauma that includes panic attacks and a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, she is unable to concentrate, has trouble figuring out how to begin tasks, and is incapable of analyzing information and taking action, Sabella said.
Before asking them to award $25.8 million in damages to Mrs. Farren, Slager told the jury that they probably did not expect the trial they got, as he pointed to the empty defense table. But even without the defendant, the civil trial was able to proceed, he explained.
Slager told them that Mrs. Farren was just a "shell" of her former self and reminded them of the videotaped deposition of John Farren where he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination about 100 times, but never denied beating, strangling and bludgeoning his wife with the flashlight, he said.
Even if Farren was at trial, Slager told the jury to remember back to the witnesses he and Teitell presented and asked, "What could he have asked that wouldn't have made it worse?"
The jury reached its verdict in favor of Mary Margaret Farren, holding her former husband liable for assault and battery and the intentional infliction of emotional distress about 90 minutes after Judge Robert Genuario sent them to begin deliberations.
The judgment capped about a week of testimony where 20 witnesses testified for the jury of three men and three women, including Mary Farren, 47, who took the stand for about 90 minutes testifying about the assault and the lingering emotional and physical injuries she sustained.
John Farren, 60, had represented himself for months in the civil case, but did not appear once at trial to defend himself or cross examine his wife's witnesses. On the day the trial was to begin a week ago Monday, Farren sent an e-mail to the court telling them he had entered a Hartford-area hospital and no reason was given for his hospitalization.
Judge Genuario said at the close of proceedings Tuesday that Farren had not sent any more communications explaining his hospitalization to the court.
Farren has been charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault and risk of injury to a minor and is facing a maximum 70 years in jail. No date has been set for his criminal trial and he is now scheduled to appear for a criminal hearing later in January. According to testimony at trial, Farren unexpectedly received divorce papers on Jan. 4, 2010 and had tried to get his wife, a high-powered lawyer herself, to rescind the suit.
Mary Farren, who had just given birth to their second daughter four months earlier, testified that she agreed to hold off on the divorce if the two would go to marriage counseling, but refused to call her attorneys and kill the divorce action.
While Farren, who worked in former President George W. Bush's West Wing as a deputy White House Counsel and before that as lead attorney for the Xerox Corporation, at first tried to win over his wife on the matter, but by the evening of Jan. 6 he became angrier until he snapped.
Before lunging at her, Farren remembered her husband saying to her, "I have done everything for you. I don't deserve this."
Farren said as the two were in the master bedroom of their 9,500-square-foot home, he sprang at her and grabbed her by the throat tackling her and began banging her head against the hardwood floor.
Farren said he then began beating her with his fists before grabbing her and throwing her across the room.
He then grabbed a Maglite off his nightstand and began beating her with it, she testified.
At one point she told him to stop and that they could work it out, but Farren told her that she was just saying that because she was scared that he would kill her, she said.
When she came to after passing out for a second time during the attack, Farren was not in the bedroom any longer and she got to her feet and hustled her two children into a car and fled to the first home she could see with lights on.
Police and medics found her lying in a pool of blood just inside the front door of a home on nearby Weed Street.
Video tape from the hospital just hours after the attack show her with a huge gash in hear head, cuts and bruises all over her face.
After the judgment came in Tuesday afternoon, Farren's attorneys Ernie Teitell and Paul Slager said the jury made the right decision.
"We presented the case and the jury has spoken. We accept their decision," Teitell said.
"We don't believe this is time for a celebration, but it is one more step toward justice taking place for Mary Margaret," Slager said.
One witness the jury heard in the case, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor Albert Sabella said that even though Farren held a half-million dollar a year job at the Washington, D.C., office of Skadden, Arps, it was questionable if she could be employed anywhere.
"Based on my review of the medical record & she would be unemployable for any job," he said.
As a result of a brain injury caused in the attack and emotional trauma that includes panic attacks and a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, she is unable to concentrate, has trouble figuring out how to begin tasks, and is incapable of analyzing information and taking action, Sabella said.
Before asking them to award $25.8 million in damages to Mrs. Farren, Slager told the jury that they probably did not expect the trial they got, as he pointed to the empty defense table. But even without the defendant, the civil trial was able to proceed, he explained.
Slager told them that Mrs. Farren was just a "shell" of her former self and reminded them of the videotaped deposition of John Farren where he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination about 100 times, but never denied beating, strangling and bludgeoning his wife with the flashlight, he said.
Even if Farren was at trial, Slager told the jury to remember back to the witnesses he and Teitell presented and asked, "What could he have asked that wouldn't have made it worse?"
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