Mayor Bradley Facing Both Divorce and Domestic Violence Charges

What began with two domestic violence arrests, for White Plains Mayor Adam Bradley due to his wife Fumiko Bradley's allegations, has now developed into two separate filings of divorce, as reported by New York's Lower Hudson Valley news.

Peter Bodnar, one of Mayor Bradley's lawyers commented only briefly, "All we can say is there are two filings, which means there was a case brought by him against her and her against him."

Fumiko Bradley's attorney, Neal Corner said, "It's not in our clients' interests to discuss any of this with anybody - either one of our clients."

In a joint new conference, both attorneys said that the filings were submitted at the same time in the last week. It's been approximately six months since Bradley was arrested in response to his wife's accusation of domestic violence - she claims that he purposely slammed her fingers in a door.

Bradley had hoped the divorce proceedings could remain private and was very disappointed as he said that, "This is an intensely personal situation that will be handled in the appropriate court of law" now that they have exhausted "every other recourse."

The county has an integrated domestic violence court that allows Westchester County Judge Susan Capeci to continue presiding over the criminal case against Bradley, while also handling the divorce proceedings.  Whether the two cases will impact each other - the domestic violence and the divorce - the attorneys for both could not comment.

New York state divorce filings are confidential. The new divorce law, that allows couples to divorce over irreconcilable differences, occurred a month after the Bradley divorce filing and is not yet in effect.

Bradley had supported the new no-fault law when he was an assemblyman.

Fumiko Bradley had e-mailed an eight-year account of her husband's abuse pattern to her neighbor.  In a separate signed statement she cited increasing abuse - both verbal and physical - that took place throughout the years of her marriage.

She specifically noted that things grew worse during Bradley's last mayoral run.

Some of her accusations include Bradley tossing hot tea at her, squeezing her arms to the point of bruising and pushing her down a flight of stairs.  In pressuring her to drop the case or be blamed for it, she also alleges that Bradley tried to get her to admit to being mentally unstable and to enter an institution.   She now has a protective order against him.

Bradley has refused to comment until he is in court.

He is facing nine misdemeanor and violation charges that include assault, witness tampering and harassment. The trial is set for late October. Bradley is also defending himself in an ethics probe in the city due to a relationship with his new landlord.

The couple, married eight years, have two young daughters.  This is Mayor Bradley's second marriage, his first ended in divorce in 1994.

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