Domestic violence, as we sometimes point out on this blog, can often turn violent, even deadly. Perhaps worse is the humiliation that can occur in such situations. That humiliation can take a number of forms.

A 48-year-old California woman was recently charged with torture and aggravated mayhem after she laced her 60-year-old husband's dinner with a drug, tied him to the bed, cut off his penis and threw it in the garbage disposal.

Sometime after harming her husband, the woman called 911 for medical assistance. When police and firefighters arrived at the scene she reportedly told them her husband deserved to have his penis cut off.

According to a law enforcement source, the incident may have arisen from a dispute over an inappropriate relationship, though that has not been confirmed. The woman's husband had apparently filed for divorce in May, citing "irreconcilable differences." The couple has no children.

Police have since arrested the woman and charged her with torture and aggravated mayhem with sentencing enhancements for great bodily injury and using a knife to harm. Those charges, both felonies, could lead to up to a year in prison.

On Wednesday, the woman appeared in court but didn't enter a plea on the charges. On Thursday, she received a psychiatric evaluation, which is a common course of action in such cases.

According to sources, the man underwent an attempted surgery after the incident, but the organ could not be reattached.

Source: ABC News, "Wife Formally Charged for Cutting Off Husband's Penis, Could Face Life in Jail," Mikaela Conley, 13 July 2011.