Judge Denies Bail Reduction for Jeffrey Farrey

A judge in Texas on Tuesday denied a request to reduce the bail set for a 22-year-old former St. Charles man jailed in El Paso, Texas in connection with the death of his 5-month-old infant son.

KFOX14 TV in El Paso reported Tuesday that Army Specialist Jeffrey Farrey, 22, assigned to Fort Bliss, was denied a request to have the bond reduced on his $1.5 million bail. He is in the El Paso County Jail on a felony count of injury to a child by omission.

Farrey’s attorney, Joe Spencer, had asked that bond be reduced to $50,000. KFOX14 TV reported that the judge denied the request.

Spencer told KFOX14 the $1.5 million for bail is excessive and should be lowered because Farrey has been cooperating with authorities, he has no criminal history and “he's a decorated war hero."

Spencer already has said publicly that Jeffrey Farrey is as much a victim in the death of his 5-month-old son Jackson as the infant was, and has described wife Jenna Farrey, also a former St. Charles resident, as manipulative and implied she has the greater responsibility in the death of their younger son.

"The issues that his wife, Jenna, has had with Child Protective Services (were) when he was halfway around the world protecting this country," Spencer told KFOX14 on Tuesday.

The Farrey family disappeared on Nov. 15, and the subsequent discovery of a suicide note in their home sparked an intensive search for Jeffrey, Jenna, 19-month-old son Blake and Jackson. Three of the four were found two days later in a hotel in Escanaba, a city in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Jackson was not with them.

The couple were arrested and Blake was placed into the custody of Child Protective Services in Escanaba.

Since then, Jeffrey and Jenna each have been returned separately to El Paso. Jenna has not been charged in connection with Jackson’s death, but was arrested and extradited on a fugitive warrant related to probation violations stemming from a child abandonment/endangerment conviction early this year.

Related:

• Read Tuesday night's coverage by KFOX14 TV.

• Dec. 3, 2013: See Jenna Farrey’s Return to Texas

• Nov. 23, 2013: Timeline: The Farrey Family Disappearance

• Nov. 23, 2013: Jenna Farrey’s Return to Texas to Take Longer Than Thought

• Nov. 22, 2013: Jeffrey Farrey’s Attorney Says His Client Did Not Kill His Son