Dateline: Suspicion in Silver City – Who was Bradley Farrington and what do we know about his crimes? Details of the 2014 murder, explored

The Dateline episode titled 'Suspicion in Silver City' recounted the chilling case of Bradley Farrington, who was convicted of murdering his estranged wife. As revealed on the Dateline episode, Bradley Farrington was a law enforcement officer who mercilessly murdered his wife after the two of them underwent a particularly contentious divorce proceeding.

Dateline further revealed that the Supreme Court upheld Bradley Farrington's conviction in 2020, and he was sentenced to life in prison.

Here's everything that we know.

Dateline: Bradley Farrington strangled his wife to death

As per the Dateline episode, Bradley Farrington's wife, Cassy Farrington's lifeless body, was discovered inside her Silver City residence on March 24, 2014. Her body was fully clothed and was lying in the bathtub in a face-down position. Subsequent autopsy revealed that she had died as a result of strangulation. Following a rigorous investigation, the investigators identified the former law enforcement officer as the one who was guilty of murdering his estranged wife.

Prior to the murder, Bradley and Cassy were entangled in a difficult and contentious divorce proceeding which centered around the issue of their children's custody as the bone of contention between the husband and the wife. It was also concluded that Bradley had murdered Cassy by pinning her down in a lethal chokehold, which he had learned as a professional tool while working with law enforcement.

Dateline: Bradley Farrington challenged the court's judgment

As mentioned in the Dateline episode, Bradley's case took a strange turn when he challenged the court's judgment to send him to life imprisonment on the basis of the allegation that the court had allowed hearsay testimonies to be considered as viable evidence in his conviction. He contested the court's decision because the witness testimonies received from Cassy's family members and friends were nothing but hearsay and shouldn't be legally admissible in a court of law.

The Supreme Court, on the other hand, promptly dismissed the entirety of Bradley's challenge, citing an exception to the rule of admission of general hearsay. As per the Court's opinion, hearsay testimonies were allowed to be admissible in case the prosecutors were able to prove to the court that the defendant had engaged in an unlawful act of preventing the defendants from expressing their testimonies.

The Court's opinion was summarized by Justice C. Shannon Bacon when he noted:

"Defendant’s intent to silence Victim can be inferred from his extensive history of domestic violence, the manner in which he leveraged his position in law enforcement to dissuade Victim from seeking help, and the contentious custody and divorce proceedings between Victim and Defendant."

The Court further declared:

Trending

"Sufficient evidence supports that Victim was subjected to Defendant’s repeated abuses, which culminated in her murder by strangulation. Viewed in a light most favorable to the verdict, this is sufficient to establish that Defendant, and not another person, murdered Victim."

Cassy's friends and family members provided the clinching testimonies stating that she had expressed fear that her husband might kill her just before her murder.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback