A Huron County man facing a felony charge of assault by strangulation has waived his right to a preliminary examination and accepted a plea arrangement that will move his case directly to circuit court. Kyle Lee Marks appeared in district court Friday, and by the end of the hearing, the path forward for his case had been clearly established.
Under the terms of the plea offer, Marks will plead guilty to assault by strangulation along with a second habitual offender charge — an enhancement that applies because of prior felony convictions on his record. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss a domestic violence count that had also been part of the charges against him. The prosecution also agreed to forgo filing additional habitual offender notices beyond what is already included in the arrangement. Marks additionally committed to paying restitution as part of the agreement.
The court has bound Marks over to circuit court, where an arraignment is scheduled for April 27th at 9 a.m. His bond conditions remain as previously ordered in the meantime.
What This Charge Carries
Assault by strangulation is a felony under Michigan law and is treated with particular seriousness within the state’s domestic violence legal framework. Strangulation is widely recognized by law enforcement and medical professionals as one of the most dangerous acts that can occur in a domestic violence situation — it is a significant predictor of escalation to lethal violence, and survivors of strangulation face both immediate physical danger and longer-term health consequences that are not always immediately apparent.
Michigan’s decision to treat assault by strangulation as a standalone felony — rather than simply folding it into general assault charges — reflects the seriousness of the act and the documented link between strangulation incidents and future homicide risk in domestic violence cases. Courts and prosecutors handle these charges accordingly, and the maintenance of Marks’s existing bond conditions signals that the court is not treating this as a situation where a relaxed pretrial arrangement is appropriate.
The second habitual offender enhancement included in the plea reflects that Marks has prior felony convictions. That designation allows the sentencing court to impose a higher maximum sentence than the underlying charge alone would permit — giving the judge more range at sentencing based on the defendant’s overall criminal history rather than evaluating only the current offense in isolation.
Why Waiving the Preliminary Exam Made Sense Here
Marks’s decision to waive the preliminary examination and accept the plea offer follows a pattern seen in other Huron County cases where both sides have found terms they can work with before the formal evidentiary hearing stage.
Waiving a preliminary examination is a strategic choice that trades the opportunity to test the prosecution’s evidence at an early stage for the certainty and concessions that come with a negotiated plea. When the evidence in a case is strong enough that a preliminary examination is unlikely to change the outcome, and when the prosecution is offering meaningful concessions — as they have here by dismissing the domestic violence count and agreeing not to pursue additional habitual notices — a defendant and their attorney may reasonably conclude that moving directly to circuit court serves their interests better than contesting the preliminary exam.
The April 27th arraignment date places the Marks case on the same circuit court calendar as at least one other significant Huron County matter. The Mark Wesley Rolfe case was bound over to circuit court following his preliminary examination on April 10th, with an arraignment also set for April 27th at 9 a.m. Both cases will enter the circuit court system on the same morning, reflecting the volume of serious criminal matters that Huron County’s courts are processing simultaneously this spring.
Huron County’s courts have been working through a sustained stretch of serious cases in recent months. The Thomas Anthony Lemke aggravated stalking arraignment earlier this month involved a defendant whose prior history of domestic violence and an existing no-contact order that failed to deter his conduct formed the core of the prosecution’s argument for maintaining a high bond. The Marks case shares some of that same structural DNA — a defendant with a prior record, a serious charge involving physical harm to another person, and a legal process designed to hold him accountable while protecting the person he is alleged to have harmed.
For Michigan residents wanting to understand how assault by straAnd for those seeking resources on domestic violence, strangulation, and the support available to survivors navigating the legal process in Michigan, theMichigan Domestic Violence Hotline offers confidential guidance and connections to local support services statewide. generat ereal featured without textngulation is defined and prosecuted under state law, and what the habitual offender enhancement means for sentencing exposure, the Michigan Courts self-help center provides accessible explanations of felony charges, sentencing guidelines, and the circuit court arraignment process. And for those seeking resources on domestic violence, strangulation, and the support available to survivors navigating the legal process in Michigan, theMichigan Domestic Violence Hotline offers confidential guidance and connections to local support services statewide.
