This is one of those cases.

At its simplest, it's a divorce: Carl and Sheryl Larson of Harnett County, parting ways after 15 years of matrimony.

But what the case has descended to is this: Carl Larson, a former career military officer, charged with assault on a female, assault with a deadly weapon, communicating threats and injury to personal property.

And Sheryl Larson, the victim, sent to jail indefinitely (19 nights and counting) for failing to refinance her home.

Huh?

You read it right. District Court Judge Albert Corbett sent Sheryl Larson to jail for a) taking the deed to her home (from her lawyer's office) and b) failing to refinance.

Never mind that Larson was using the deed to do exactly what the judge wanted -- to remove her former husband's name from the mortgage on their home. Never mind that Larson later had her former husband's VA guaranty on the loan removed, too.

"I told you to refinance!" the judge told Larson at a hearing Oct. 22. Then he sent her to the Harnett County jail.

"How am I supposed to refinance from jail?" Larson asked.

"That's your problem," the judge replied.

Five days later, Corbett granted Larson work-release. But the problem remains. As a single parent who collects $10 a month from her ex, Larson has racked up a fairly lively credit report. She says she's willing to refinance -- even though it will cost her more in monthly payments and closing costs -- but she simply doesn't qualify.

So Larson continues to rack up time in a jail so overcrowded there are often three women to a cell. Last week, Larson told me she'd finally gotten to sleep on a bunk. A small victory; until then, she'd been sleeping on a mat on the floor.

On weekdays, she has been released from her cell at 6:45 a.m., allowed to go home, shower and visit with her teenage kids for a minute before scurrying in to work at the Harnett County Department of Social Services. At 5:30 p.m., she has been back behind bars.

And what sense does that make?

This morning Corbett is scheduled to review the case again. But on Friday, he defended his actions. By taking the deed and failing to refinance, Larson had violated his court order twice, he said.

But none of that cost her former husband a dime, and his name has been removed from the mortgage completely. So why the jail time? I asked.

"What would you say if the roles were reversed, and this had been the man?" Corbett challenged.

I told Corbett I wouldn't want anyone, man or woman, to spend 19 days in jail for failing to refinance a home.

But so long as he was bringing up gender, I had to point out: Sheryl Larson has spent far more time in jail for this than her husband ever served for attacking and threatening to kill her.

Makes you wonder who's the true abuser at this point -- the ex-husband or the district court judge?

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