Felonious assault in Michigan is a four-year felony under MCL 750.82, charged when a person uses a dangerous weapon to assault someone without intending to kill them or cause great bodily harm. A conviction carries up to four years in prison, a fine of up to $2,000, mandatory restitution to the victim, and a lifetime federal ban on possessing firearms. Penalties climb when the victim is a healthcare worker, when the assault happens in a school zone, or when a firearm is involved.
What the Prosecution Has to Prove
Three elements have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
There has to be an assault. Michigan courts define that as either an attempted battery or an act that would make a reasonable person fear an immediate battery. Words alone don’t count. The Michigan Supreme Court held in People v. Reeves, 458 Mich 236 (1998), that threats without a physical act toward carrying them out are not enough.
A dangerous weapon has to be involved. The statute names guns, revolvers, pistols, knives, iron bars, clubs, and brass knuckles, and then adds any “other dangerous weapon.”1Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 750.82 That open-ended language is why ordinary objects, a baseball bat, a vehicle, a glass bottle, can qualify when they’re used in a threatening way. Courts look at how the object was used, not just what it is.
The defendant must not have intended to commit murder or inflict great bodily harm. That’s the line that separates felonious assault from heavier charges like assault with intent to do great bodily harm (a ten-year felony) or assault with intent to murder. Felonious assault sits in the middle: the weapon pushes it above a simple assault, but the lack of intent to seriously injure keeps it below the top-tier assault charges.
Prison Time and Fines
The base penalty is up to four years in prison, a fine of up to $2,000, or both.1Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 750.82 Where a sentence actually lands in that range depends on Michigan’s sentencing guidelines, which score prior record alongside offense variables like injury, the number of victims, and how the weapon was used. The guidelines produce a recommended minimum, and a judge who departs has to state reasons on the record.
Healthcare Workers
If the victim was a healthcare professional or medical volunteer performing their duties when assaulted, the maximum fine doubles to $4,000. The four-year prison cap stays the same.1Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 750.82 The enhanced fine doesn’t apply if the defendant was a patient being treated by the victim at the time.
Weapon Free School Zones
A felonious assault in a weapon free school zone raises the maximum fine to $6,000 and allows the judge to add up to 150 hours of community service. The four-year prison cap doesn’t change.1Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 750.82
Felony-Firearm
Carrying or possessing a firearm while committing felonious assault triggers a mandatory two-year prison sentence under MCL 750.227b. That sentence runs consecutively, served in full before the sentence for the underlying felonious assault even begins.2Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 750.227b A conviction on both the assault and the firearm count can mean up to six years total, and the two-year minimum is not negotiable at sentencing.
How the Case Moves Through Court
Michigan felony cases start in district court and, if they’re not resolved there, move to circuit court for trial. The main stops along the way:
- District court arraignment, where the defendant hears the charges, is told about appointed counsel, and gets bail conditions set.
- A probable cause conference 7 to 14 days later, when the defense attorney and prosecutor talk about plea possibilities and whether a preliminary examination is needed.
- The preliminary examination, held within 21 days of arraignment, where the prosecution must show probable cause that a felony occurred and the defendant did it. If the judge agrees, the case is bound over to circuit court. Many defendants waive this step as part of plea negotiations.
- A second arraignment in circuit court before a new judge.
- Pretrial hearings with a newly assigned prosecutor to explore resolutions.
- Trial, by jury or, if the prosecution agrees, by the judge alone.3Monroe County, MI. Steps of a Felony Case
Most felonious assault cases don’t reach trial. A common plea outcome is a reduction to simple assault or assault and battery under MCL 750.81, a misdemeanor carrying up to 93 days in jail and a $500 fine.4Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 750.81 The gap between a felony and a misdemeanor outcome is enormous for the rest of a person’s life, especially for firearm rights and employment, which is why defense strategy at the pretrial stage matters as much as the trial itself.
Defenses That Come Up Most Often
Which defense fits a case depends on the facts. A few recur.
Challenging the Elements
The prosecution has to prove assault, dangerous weapon, and intent. If the object used doesn’t reasonably qualify as a dangerous weapon, or if the alleged victim’s fear wasn’t reasonable under the circumstances, the charge can fall apart. Defense attorneys often press the dangerous weapon element when the object was something like a pen, a shoe, or another item that doesn’t inherently threaten serious harm.
Self-Defense
Michigan’s Self-Defense Act (Act 309 of 2006) allows the use of force, including deadly force, when a person honestly and reasonably believes they face imminent death, great bodily harm, or sexual assault. There is no duty to retreat as long as the person is somewhere they have a legal right to be and is not engaged in criminal activity at the time. The force used has to be proportionate to the threat. Once self-defense is properly raised, the prosecution has to disprove it beyond a reasonable doubt.
Mistaken Identity or Alibi
When the defendant wasn’t the person who committed the assault, surveillance footage, cell phone location data, witness testimony, and receipts can place them somewhere else. These defenses rise and fall on the quality of corroborating evidence and are strongest when the identification procedures police used were flawed, such as a suggestive photo lineup or a single-witness identification under poor conditions.
Life After a Conviction
Firearm Rights
Losing the right to own firearms is one of the heaviest consequences of a felonious assault conviction, and it comes from two directions. Federal law bars anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison from possessing any firearm or ammunition.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts A four-year maximum triggers that ban. Michigan law separately disqualifies anyone with a felony conviction from obtaining a concealed pistol license.6Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 28.425b
Restoring federal firearm rights is theoretically possible through an application to the U.S. Attorney General under 18 U.S.C. 925(c), but Congress has not funded the ATF to process those applications for decades, so the mechanism is effectively frozen.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 925 – Exceptions: Relief From Disabilities State-level restoration in Michigan is possible in some circumstances, but the federal ban remains the harder barrier.
Restitution
Michigan courts are required to order restitution to the victim as part of sentencing. Under MCL 780.766, the judge must order the defendant to make full restitution to the victim or the victim’s estate, covering medical costs, lost income, homemaking and child care services the victim can no longer perform, and counseling for the victim and immediate family.8Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 780.766 If a defendant fails to pay, the court weighs employment status, earning ability, and whether the failure was willful before deciding on enforcement. A victim can also file a separate civil lawsuit for damages like pain and suffering that criminal restitution doesn’t cover.
Voting
Michigan automatically restores voting rights when a person is released from incarceration, even while they’re still on parole or probation. If you’re out, you’re eligible to register and vote.
Expungement
Felonious assault is classified as an assaultive crime under Michigan law, which limits but doesn’t eliminate expungement. It isn’t on the list of offenses excluded entirely.9Michigan Attorney General. Expungement Assistance – Other Crimes The main restrictions:
- A person can seek expungement of no more than two assaultive crime convictions in a lifetime.
- Assaultive crimes are excluded from Michigan’s automatic Clean Slate set-aside, so expungement requires filing a petition.10Michigan State Police. Michigan Clean Slate
- The waiting period for a felony is generally ten years from sentencing or completion of any term of imprisonment, whichever is later.10Michigan State Police. Michigan Clean Slate
Even after the waiting period, expungement isn’t automatic. The court weighs the person’s behavior since the conviction and whether the public welfare is served by granting the petition.
Immigration and Canada Travel
For non-citizens, a felonious assault conviction can be severe. Federal immigration law treats a crime of violence carrying a prison sentence of at least one year as an aggravated felony.11LII / Legal Information Institute. Definition: Aggravated Felony From 8 USC 1101(a)(43) Michigan felonious assault fits that definition when the actual sentence imposed is one year or longer, and an aggravated felony makes a non-citizen deportable with almost no discretionary relief available. Even without that classification, assault with a dangerous weapon is identified as a crime involving moral turpitude in the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual, which can trigger inadmissibility or removal on its own.12U.S. Department of State. Foreign Affairs Manual – Ineligibility Based on Criminal Activity
Canada is also closed off. Under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a foreign national convicted of an offense that would be punishable by ten or more years if committed in Canada is inadmissible on grounds of serious criminality.13Justice Laws Website. Immigration and Refugee Protection Act – Section 36 The Canadian equivalent, assault with a weapon under the Criminal Code, carries up to ten years, which places Michigan’s offense in that category. Entry requires a Temporary Resident Permit, and offenses involving violence, weapons, or property damage are excluded from the deemed rehabilitation pathway that otherwise opens entry after ten years without a waiver. For anyone living near the border, that changes daily life.