Since yesterday, when the big Eliot Spitzer news broke, we've been on a bad-behavior kick here at ATL. So let's keep going down that path. A tipster sent us a juicy story, with this intro:

This is wild. And by wild, I mean INSANE... He's 61. She's 25. He likes booze, cocaine, and turtlenecks.

Police drew their guns and broke open a door to get former District Court Judge John Brennan to stop choking his 25-year-old girlfriend, according to Albuquerque police reports released Monday.

According to the reports, Brennan, 61, appeared to be extremely intoxicated, denied that he attacked the woman and was wearing only a mock turtleneck and gray underwear when confronted by officers.

Brennan was arrested on charges of domestic violence, kidnapping and aggravated battery against a household member in connection with the Sunday incident. He made his first appearance in Metropolitan Court on Monday.

More details -- and yes, once again, allegations of prostitute involvement -- after the jump.

From the police reports:

Officers heard screams shortly after arriving in Brennan's neighborhood. After determining they were coming from what turned out to be Brennan's house, they approached the front door and heard a woman scream, "Please let me go" and "Ouch, you are hurting me." They also heard a male curse at the woman and say, "Because of you and your big mouth, the cops are going to come."

The woman responded, "Why are you doing this? Please let me go. You're hurting me" as country music blared in the background.

(We'd make a snide quip here about country music, but truth be told, we think we'd like it if we gave it a chance.)

The officers then heard what sounded like the woman escaping and heard her scream, "Help! Help!"

Two officers then peeked through a set of French doors and saw Brennan with his hand over the woman's mouth and his arm wrapped around her throat.

The officers drew their guns, kicked open the door, ordered Brennan to let go of the woman and placed the former judge in handcuffs. At the same time, a third officer was forcing his way through a back door.

"I immediately recognized the male subject as former 2nd Judicial District Judge John Brennan," one of the officers wrote in a report.

So what was all the fighting about?

The woman told police that Brennan was upset because he wanted her to have sex with a prostitute and she refused.

He then chased her through the house and grabbed her by the hair and neck several times, she told police. At one point, the woman locked herself in a bedroom and removed a window screen in an attempt to escape, but the window was too high.

The woman told police that Brennan grabbed her hair and was going to "snap" her neck. She told police that she thought Brennan was going to kill her.

When questioned by police, Brennan said, "I didn't touch her" several times. He also told officers, "I would never hurt a woman."

This isn't ex-judge Brennan's first brush with the law (as a defendant, that is):

Brennan was chief judge in the 2nd Judicial District in Albuquerque for nearly 20 years. On Memorial Day weekend 2004, he was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and cocaine possession. He resigned from the bench shortly afterward.

Brennan pleaded guilty to the charges and received a year of probation and two days of house arrest. He also surrendered his state bar license.

He checked himself into the Betty Ford Clinic in Palm Springs, Calif., for treatment of substance abuse problems.

If Lindsay Lohan can relapse after rehab, then a state trial judge can too.

Cops Had to Kick Open Ex-Judge's Door [Albuquerque Journal (subscription)]