Michigan Felony Sentencing Guidelines for Domestic Violence Offenses

When a domestic violence charge is a felony, the sentence is shaped by Michigan's sentencing guidelines. The guidelines assign each felony a crime class and produce a recommended range for the minimum sentence based on scores for the offense and for the person's prior record.^[3] Since 2015 that range has been advisory: the judge must consult it and explain the sentence, but is not bound by it.^[4]

This page identifies the guidelines class of each offense, explains how a range is calculated, and covers the rules that sit on top of the guidelines: the two-thirds limit, the jail-or-prison line, habitual-offender enhancement and consecutive sentencing. It does not give grid numbers or predict a sentence; those depend on scoring the individual case.

Which domestic offenses are covered by the guidelines?

The guidelines classify felonies. First-offense and second-offense domestic assault and first-offense aggravated domestic assault are misdemeanors and do not appear in the felony list.^[9] The domestic offenses that do appear are these:

Offense	Statute	Group	Class	Statutory maximum
Domestic assault with prior convictions[1]	MCL 750.81(5)	Person	E	5 years
Aggravated domestic assault with prior convictions[2]	MCL 750.81a(3)	Person	E	5 years
Felonious assault[2]	MCL 750.82(1)	Person	F	4 years
Assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder[2]	MCL 750.84(1)(a)	Person	D	10 years
Assault by strangulation or suffocation[2]	MCL 750.84(1)(b)	Person	D	10 years
Aggravated stalking[10]	MCL 750.411i(3)(a)	Person	E	5 years
Aggravated stalking of a minor[10]	MCL 750.411i(3)(b)	Person	D	10 years
Unlawful imprisonment[11]	MCL 750.349b	Person	C	15 years

The offenses themselves are explained in Second and third offenses, Assault by strangulation, Felonious assault, Aggravated stalking and Unlawful imprisonment.

What does the class letter mean?

Crime classes run from A to H and roughly track the maximum penalty. The Michigan Judicial Institute's benchbook lists them as Class A, life; Class B, 20 years; Class C, 15 years; Class D, 10 years; Class E, 5 years; Class F, 4 years; Class G, 2 years; and Class H, jail or other intermediate sanction.^[12]

Third-offense domestic assault moved between classes. It was Class G with a 2-year maximum until April 1, 2013, when it became Class E with a 5-year maximum; the subsection was renumbered from 750.81(4) to 750.81(5) in 2016.^[1] Material that calls it a "2-year felony" or cites subsection (4) for the felony is out of date.^[1][13]

How is a guidelines range calculated?

MCL 777.21 sets out three steps:^[3]

1. Offense variables. Find the offense category, determine which offense variables are scored for that category, score them, and total the points to get the offender's offense variable level.^[3]
2. Prior record variables. Score all prior record variables and total the points to get the prior record variable level.^[3]
3. The grid. Find the offense class and, using the sentencing grid for that class, read the recommended minimum sentence range from the intersection of the offense variable level and the prior record variable level. The range is shown in months or life.^[3]

All of the offenses in the table above are in the "Person" offense category.^{[1][2][10][11]} The individual variables and the grids are not reproduced here; they are in the state's Sentencing Guidelines Manual.^[9]

What counts in the prior record score

Two rules are worth knowing. First, "conviction" for prior record scoring includes an assignment to youthful trainee status and a conviction that was later set aside.^[14][15] Second, there is a 10-year gap rule: a conviction that precedes a period of 10 or more years between its discharge date and the commission of the person's next offense is not used.^[14]

In a felony domestic assault case, the prior domestic convictions that made the charge a felony are also what the prosecutor has to list in the charging document and establish at sentencing.^[16][17] That process is described in Second and third offenses.

Are the guidelines binding?

No. In People v Lockridge, decided in 2015, the Michigan Supreme Court rendered the previously mandatory guidelines "advisory only." Sentencing courts must "continue to consult the applicable guidelines range and take it into account when imposing a sentence," and they "must justify the sentence imposed in order to facilitate appellate review."^[4]

The statute now reflects that. A court may depart from the appropriate sentence range if the departure is reasonable and the court states on the record the reasons for departure.^[18] A departure may not be based on the individual's gender, race, ethnicity, alienage, national origin, legal occupation, lack of employment, type of legal representation or religion.^[18]

The two-thirds rule

Whatever the guidelines range, the court shall not impose a minimum sentence, including a departure, that exceeds two-thirds of the statutory maximum sentence.^[18] The statutory maximum itself comes from the offense statute, for example 5 years for third-offense domestic assault and 10 years for strangulation.^[13][19]

Probation, jail or prison?

The guidelines statute sorts sentences by the top of the recommended minimum range. If that upper limit is 18 months or less, the statute says the court shall impose an intermediate sanction unless it states on the record reasonable grounds to sentence the person to a county jail for not more than 12 months or to the Department of Corrections for any sentence over 12 months.^[20] Since March 24, 2021, an "intermediate sanction" means probation or any other lawful sanction "other than imprisonment in a county jail, state prison, or state reformatory."^[21] After Lockridge, this provision is advisory as well.^[20][4]

When probation is ordered for a felony, the general limit is 3 years, extendable twice by 1 year each on specific findings; a person convicted of a "violent felony" as defined in the Corrections Code may be placed on probation for not more than 5 years, and probation for aggravated stalking, when ordered, is for any term of years but not less than 5.^[22][23][24] A person convicted of a domestic violence offense, a violation of MCL 750.84, or aggravated stalking is not eligible for reduced probation under the early-discharge provision of MCL 771.2.^[25][26] See Probation in a domestic violence case.

Habitual-offender enhancement

A person with prior felony convictions can be sentenced as a habitual offender. That changes both ends of the sentence.^[5][27]

Status	Effect on the maximum	Effect on the top of the recommended minimum range
Second (1 prior felony)	Not more than 1-1/2 times the longest term for a first conviction[5]	Increased by 25%[27]
Third (2 or more prior felonies)	Not more than twice the longest term[6]	Increased by 50%[27]
Fourth (3 or more prior felonies)	Life or a lesser term if the new felony carries a maximum of 5 years or more; not more than 15 years if it carries less than 5[7]	Increased by 100%[27]

Applied to a 5-year felony such as third-offense domestic assault, the maximum becomes 7-1/2 years for a second habitual offender and 10 years for a third.^[5][6]

Two further points. The prosecutor seeks habitual-offender sentencing by filing a written notice of intent within 21 days after the defendant's arraignment on the information, or within 21 days after the information is filed if arraignment is waived, listing the prior convictions relied on.^[28] And for a fourth habitual offender, if the new felony is a "serious crime," which includes a violation of MCL 750.84, and 1 or more of the prior felonies is a "listed prior felony" as the statute defines that term, the court shall sentence the person to imprisonment for not less than 25 years.^[29]

The domestic assault statute already raises the charge because of prior convictions.^[13] The Court of Appeals held in People v Stricklin that the two enhancements can both apply: a sentence for a subsequent conviction under the domestic violence statute "is subject to habitual offender enhancement," and the trial court there was authorized to enhance the sentence to a maximum of life imprisonment.^[8]

Several convictions in one case

If the defendant was convicted of multiple offenses, each is scored.^[30] In Michigan, concurrent sentencing is the norm: a court must impose concurrent sentences unless a statute specifically authorizes a consecutive sentence.^[31]

MCL 750.84 states that it does not prohibit a person from being charged with, convicted of, or punished for any other violation of law arising out of the same conduct.^[32] That allows a strangulation count and, for example, a domestic assault count to stand together; it is not a consecutive-sentencing provision.^[32][31]

Where the guidelines fit in the case

A felony moves from district court to circuit court after the preliminary examination, and the circuit court imposes the sentence.^[33] Before a plea in a felony case, the court advises the defendant of the maximum possible sentence and any mandatory minimum.^[34] If a plea agreement includes a sentence to a specified term or range and the court decides not to follow it, the defendant is allowed to withdraw the plea.^[35] The sequence of hearings is laid out in Michigan felony domestic violence case timeline, and the victim's role at sentencing in Victim impact statements.

What people get wrong

"The guidelines set the sentence." They produce a recommended range for the minimum sentence, and since 2015 that range is advisory.^[3][4]

"Third-offense domestic violence is a 2-year felony." It has been a Class E, 5-year offense since April 1, 2013.^[1]

"A case that was set aside or handled under HYTA does not count." For prior record scoring, both count as a conviction.^[14]

"A charge that is already enhanced cannot be enhanced again." Under Stricklin, a felony domestic assault sentence is subject to habitual-offender enhancement.^[8]

For the overall picture of possible sentences, including misdemeanors, see Jail and prison: what sentences are possible.