The police did not have to look far for a suspect in this particular battery case. He stood at the victim's bedside.

The wife laid there perfectly quiet, while her husband was anything but.

"It's a good thing there's no broken bones. Lucky for me it is only superficial wounds."

The cocked eyebrow from the detectives prompted him to keep talking:

"She did this to herself, you know."

"Oh yeah?" the cynical cops responded.

The value of less-is-more completely escaped the defendant. He continued:

"She is gonna say I did it. She is gonna say I hit her with the cabinet," he said.

Then, after another pause, even more verbiage.

"When I left she was crying. Everything was fine. I left because of the current order of protection."

His lawyer now promises the judge that the man will steer clear, but the judge is unmoved. $1,000 bail.