Furious at her soon-to-be ex-husband, Shandra Rodems used her car key to carve a 2-foot scratch into his pristine black pickup, figuring it was her property, too.

Now, she's scratching her head at the reaction: She faces a felony vandalism charge and up to a year in jail if convicted.

A former top prosecutor says the case doesn't sound like one that would normally be pursued so aggressively. Her attorney goes further, saying she's being singled out because her estranged husband is a Fresno police officer.

Prosecutors say they are treating her no differently from any person accused of a crime in a domestic dispute. They're just following up on a complaint from the Police Department, said Dennis Cooper, a chief deputy district attorney with the Fresno County District Attorney's Office.

"We don't control what cases the police give us to review," said Cooper, former top homicide prosecutor who now heads the domestic violence unit. "With these types of facts, we won't turn our back on it."

Officer Kennan Rodems has been on the police force for more than a dozen years. He could not be reached for comment.

Shandra Rodems -- a Fresno Fire Department spokeswoman -- used to work for the Police Department but left in 2006 after she filed a complaint against supervisors alleging unfair treatment.

"I am positive that felony charges were filed against me only because my husband is a police officer and because of my previous claim," she said. "I feel like I've been treated completely unfairly."

Fresno Deputy Police Chief Sharon Shaffer declined to discuss the outcome of Rodems' complaint against her supervisor, saying it was a confidential personnel matter.

Police officials say they don't see any problem with asking prosecutors to file the vandalism charge against Rodems.

"We determined it was a criminal matter that happened in the city," Shaffer said.

But Rodems' attorney, Jeff Hammerschmidt, said the Police Department has ignored allegations that Rodems has made against her husband. She says he pounded on her car with his fists -- which could be regarded as battery -- and says she has phone records that show he made so many harassing calls to her cell phone that she had to change her number.

"She's worried that she's being singled out," Hammerschmidt said.

Former Fresno County Assistant District Attorney Michael Idiart, who is now in private practice as a criminal defense lawyer and is not involved in Rodems' case, thinks Hammerschmidt might be right.

"This case smells, because it sounds to me like a domestic squabble," Idiart said. "I'm not accusing anyone, but it gives the impression that the police officer had enough juice in the DA's office to get a felony filed."

The charges stem from a confrontation last month in the parking lot of a north Fresno bank, shortly before divorce proceedings began. Shandra and Kennan Rodems had married in June 2005, and she had moved out of their Clovis home this past February.

According to an affidavit signed by Fresno police detective John Gomez, the couple arrived in separate vehicles at the bank May 4 to cash a federal income tax check. They began to argue after Shandra Rodems received a phone call from Kennan's son from a previous marriage.

The boy told Shandra Rodems that he didn't want her to come to his high school graduation. Kennan Rodems also told his estranged wife to stay away from his children, Gomez wrote.

Later, Shandra Rodems told police she got angry because she thought her husband had turned his son against her.