My question involves criminal law for the state of: Michigan


I'm concerned as to the possible/probable outcome to an incident that took place about a week ago.

Here's what happened.

My wife and I were at my house, watching television, when a girl I WAS seeing broke through our (deadbolted) door, stormed upstairs screaming hysterically and repeatedly punched me in the head. After a few seconds, she ran downstairs (I followed her, completely caught offguard by the situation), slammed a table into the wall and broke a picture frame. I followed her to her vehicle to try to figure out what exactly was happening and was, again, punched in the head a number of times. One of the punches landed squarely on my ear and ruptured my eardrum (I still don't have all of my hearing back).

My wife called the police and we told our side of what happened. The officer explained that if we wanted to press charges, she was looking at charges of "home invasion" and "malicious destruction of property". From what I've read, home invasion is a felony and carries a penalty of up to 20 years. At the time of the incident, we didn't tell the officer if we wanted to press charges or not (we were told that we didn't have to decide right then). Since then, I've met with the officer and filled in a few blanks for him, as far as why I thought she might have come to my house, our history, and a few other details that I'm happy to tell you about if it will be helpful. He had also, apparently, originally missed the part about her punching me and rupturing my eardrum. So now "domestic violence" has been added to the possible charges. At the meeting, I wasn't asked whether we had decided to press charges or not.

My concern is for the girl. We've been very close for about two years and I obviously care about her, but the relationship didn't progress in the direction (or as timely as) she wanted. This was a very big mistake on her part and I don't think it should go unpunished, but I can't help but feel guilty for my part in everything. I don't want her to face felony charges and possibly screw up her future because of one mistake. Can anyone tell me what will most likely happen to her? She has no prior police record (not even a speeding ticket). Also, she works for an attorney, so I'm sure she'll be represented well. In fact, she refused to talk to the officer when he tried contacting her, stating that she had no comment and that the officer could speak to her attorney.



I'm only looking for some insight regarding her potential sentence; not a bunch of comments telling me what a jerk I was for having an affair. I already know that and was trying to rectify that situation, which is what ultimately led to the incident.