There is a bizarre case out of New Jersey where Michelle Hurley is charged with choking her husband nearly to death with a lamp cord. The victim, 50, was unconscious when the police arrived and remains hospitalized in critical condition.

The argument reportedly began over a pending divorce. The husband had no pulse when police arrived.

What I found particularly notable from a legal standpoint is that Hurley is charged with not only aggravated assault (which is obvious) but possession of a chain link lamp cord for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon – i.e., the lamp cord.

It is the type of redundant charging that I have long criticized where prosecutors use the same condition to stack up counts. The concept of a lamp cord as a weapon is particularly odd. (Yes, I expect a new campaign that “when lamp cords are outlawed, only outlaws will have lamps”). What is interesting is that there is little need for such bizarre counts when you have an attempted murder.