An incredible story (the first in a three-part series) about New York's "justice courts," which are often administered by judges who never graduated from college, much less law school.

A woman in Malone, N.Y., was not amused. A mother of four, she went to court in that North Country village seeking an order of protection against her husband, who the police said had choked her, kicked her in the stomach and threatened to kill her. The justice, Donald R. Roberts, a former state trooper with a high school diploma, not only refused, according to state officials, but later told the court clerk, "Every woman needs a good pounding every now and then."

It's a long story, and you probably won't have time to read it unless, like me, you've got something important to put off. But it'll no doubt make you shake your head.