Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com


A Fowlerville man could face up to life in prison after being found guilty at a jury trial of attacking a Northville man with a baseball bat.

32-year-old Christopher Simons was convicted of assault with intent to commit murder for the beating of Alexsander Malec in a wooded area of Lyon Township in 2019. Police say that Malec had been invited into the woods by a friend, Jessica Kropiewnicki.

According to authorities it was actually a ruse, with Simons suddenly appearing with the bat and whacking him a number of times on the head and elsewhere. Police say he also kicked Malec in the stomach numerous times and left him unconscious. When Malec regained consciousness, he was able to crawl to a nearby house, but no one was home, so he broke in. He was discovered later by the occupants, who called police.

Simon’s female accomplice was also charged with assault with intent to commit murder, to which she pleaded no contest in 2020. Kropiewnicki struck a plea deal in which she would have been sentenced to no more than five years in prison, but removed her electronic tether the day before she was to appear for sentencing. She was arrested three weeks later on a routine traffic stop and sentenced to 15-30 years in prison.

Simons remains in custody awaiting sentencing, which is scheduled for November 22nd before Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Victoria Valentine. The charge of assault with intent to murder carries a sentence of any number of years up to life in prison.