A Gobles man will serve jail time and probation for violently attacking a Plainwell man who’d hit his dog with a car.
Christopher Steven Robinson, 26, was sentenced Monday, Nov. 26, in Allegan County Circuit Court for one count of attempted assault with intent to do great bodily harm. The victim of the August 2017 incident in Plainwell suffered serious injuries including a broken jaw and broken teeth. The dog survived the accident.
Allegan County prosecutor Myrene Koch argued for a longer jail sentence because of the severity of the attack and pointed out it had happened the day after the dog was hit, not immediately.
“The defendant admitted the victim was very apologetic about the fact the dog had been hit,” Koch said. “He choked the victim and punched the victim several times.”
She admitted Robinson had not prior criminal record.
“He has no prior record up to this point, but whether it was the dog or that he was just angry, he lashed out at this man and did a lot of damage,” Koch said.
She said the victim was still going through treatment for the affects of the attack.
Robinson’s lawyer, James Michael McEwen, said his client hadn’t been in an altercation with another person.
“Mr. Robinson recognizes his behavior was unacceptable, inappropriate and obviously criminal,” McEwen said.
He said his client had sought counseling.
“It was hard for him to believe he did this damage to someone,” McEwen said. “He wanted to learn how to not repeat something like this.”
Robinson was continuing to engage in counseling and was a group leader, McEwen said, and had support from his parents. He said he thought his client would be successful on probation.
Robinson apologized and said he took responsibility for what he’d done.
“I know my actions were wrong and completely unacceptable,” he said. “I’ve acted to take care of the issues with myself.”
Judge Roberts Kengis said, “The court is glad you’ve gotten help for yourself.
“You still deserve to be punished for this incident. This was a very inappropriate response for what happened to your dog.
“The court is very concerned you waited a day to cool down and you still reacted like this...”
Kengis sentenced Robinson to 18 months on probation and 90 days in the Allegan County Jail. He allowed Robinson to serve 30 days and then have the rest of the sentence suspended and only enforced in the event of a probation violation. Robinson was also allowed to report to jail a few days later to try to set up work release. Kengis said restitution was still to be determined in the case.
Robinson pleaded guilty in September and as part of a plea agreement Allegan County prosecutors agreed two counts of assault with intent to do great bodily harm dropped in exchange for the plea to attempted assault with intent to do great bodily harm.
Contact Dan Pepper at dpepper@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534.
Editor's note: The story above has been clarified to include the detail that the dog was hit with a car (as opposed to physically attacked by the victim in the case above).
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