After more than four years of legal wrangling, a Stamford judge has set a date for former White House counsel J. Michael Farren to stand trial in the beating of his wife in their New Canaan mansion. For the past year, Farren has tried to enlist the help of the public defender's office because he claims his wife took all his money in her civil suit. In February, Comerford denied the appeal, finding that Farren had more resources at his disposal than state guidelines allow for obtaining a public defender. Farren accused Colangelo of telling his wife's civil attorneys of a conversation the two had just before the civil trial took place about whether he would be in violation of his conditions of release if he went into a mental hospital. At first Farren, who worked for former President George W.