She served as Westchester district attorney for 12 years until she decided not to run for re-election in 2005.

Both the judge and the Westchester district attorney's office said they did not know about the history of domestic violence.

Ms. Pirro, a former Westchester district attorney, was elected to a third term while her husband was serving his sentence.

The Westchester district attorney's office is investigating, but says the First Amendment may protect such literature.

Whatever her policies, Ms. Pirro has raised the profile, if not the glamour quotient, of the Westchester district attorney's office.

She went to work in the Westchester district attorney's office, eventually becoming head of its domestic violence unit.

For Ms. Pirro, the energetic former Westchester district attorney, this has been a very bad year.

A spokeswoman for the Westchester district attorney's office said that the matter was still being investigated.

To Jeanine Pirro, the Westchester district attorney, the term "honor killing" is irrelevant.

In the last eight years, the Westchester district attorney's office has worked with 21,000 domestic violence victims.