Woman gets 1530 years for brutal attack
Former friend left permanently disabled
A Lyon Township woman has been ordered to spend the next 15 to 30 years in prison for her role in a brutal attack that left a former friend permanently disabled, suffering from cognitive and physical issues.
Jessica Kropiewnicki, 26, learned her fate Wednesday morning, sentenced by Judge James Alexander of Oakland County Circuit Court at a hearing conducted by Zoom.
“Your crime is horrendous... lured him into this terrible, terrible, terrible thing,” Alexander told her, prior to handing down the sentence.
It was May 4, 2019 when Kropiewnicki lured her victim, Aleksander Malec — who had considered her his friend and sometimes girlfriend — to a wooded trail in Lyon Township for what turned out to be a set-up attack.
A masked assailant, allegedly Kropiewnicki’s boyfriend at the time, Christopher Simons, reportedly
emerged and began pummeling Malec with a baseball bat, striking him multiple times in the head and elsewhere. Malec also reported being kicked in the stomach repeatedly before the two left him alone.
After being assaulted, Malec was found covered in blood and unconscious, inside a house on Martindale Road in Lyon Township. He had gone to the house for help, then broke in when he foundnoonewas home. The homeowners discovered him sometime later and called police.
Kropiewnicki and Simons were subsequently arrested and charged with assault with intent to murder.
Malec spent the next month hospitalized — but the damage from the attack
will be with him always, he said.
‘I was very happy, loving life’
Addressing the court at the sentencing hearing, Malec said he suffered a traumatic brain injury that adversely affects his motor skills, speech , memory and c o g ni t i v e ability. He said he loses focus easily, has difficulty with speech and handwriting, permanent hearing loss, dental issues and loss of feeling in his hand. He’s developed a seizure disorder and requires constant supervision.
“Before the attack, I was very happy, loving life, having goals and enjoying hobbies,” he said.
Medication he takes to ward off seizures further slows down his brain activity. He’s unable to drive, at least for now. He suffers from flashbacks, post traumatic stress disorder and sleep disturbances, he said. And there’s no telling what other resulting difficulties could develop.
“It’s a life sentence for Alek. It didn’t beginand end on May 4 and he’s all better now,” assistant prosecutor Kelly Collins told the court.
Kropiewnicki offered apologies to the court, Malec, his family and hers, and said she “had done very well on the tether” before going into panicmode in early September. She said she was never one to face her problems but rather “always ran from them, and I’m sorry I did.”
There were allegations that Kropiewnicki set up Malec for the assault because Simons ordered her to, and that she had feared
for her safety and that of her family members. But Alexander and Collins both said if that were the case, she could have sought help but chose not to.
Last Fe b r u a r y, Kropiewnicki pleaded no contest to assault with intent to murder, with Alexander indicating she’d be sentenced to five years in prison if she complied with a number of conditions. Yet she gave that allupafter cutting her electronic tether the day before she was to be sentenced, and went on the lam for about three weeks. Kropiewnicki was taken into custody following a traffic stop on Sept. 23.
“I’m so sorry I messed up....I’msorry for cuttingmy tether,” she told the court. “I didn’tmean for any of this to happen. I’m so sorry Alex, I really am.”
Simons will face a jury on his charge. A trial date is pending.