HILLSDALE – Hillsdale County 1st Judicial Circuit Court Judge Sara Lisznyai has postponed sentencing for a Jonesville man who admitted stabbing his former girlfriend with plans to kill her in December 2023.
Dustin Thomas Collins, 20, has been in jail since his arrest on December 23, 2023, after authorities and paramedics responded to Heritage Lane Apartments in Jonesville for a stabbing incident.
Despite pleading no contest to charges of assault with intent to murder with a Killebrew (sentencing) agreement stipulating that Collins would serve nine years in prison, Collins’ fate will not be heard until November 4.
Lisznyai suspended sentencing on Monday, Oct. 14, to allow time for “further discussions” after a brief recess during which Chief Assistant Prosecutor Jamie Wisniewski had preliminary discussions with Mallory Brenneman, the stabbing victim.
Collins spoke briefly Monday morning prior to the suspension, saying he found God while in prison.
“You always hear the expression ‘if you love them, let them go,’ but I wasn’t ready to let her go,” Collins said. “The devil has taken over me.”
Brenneman also spoke briefly before the suspension.
“What you did was so wrong and unforgivable,” Brenneman said, looking Collins straight in the eyes.
A police report used to provide a factual basis for Collins’ August 19 plea of no contest to charges of assault with intent to murder was filled with excerpts of interviews with Collins and the victim, both upon first arrival from the troopers and during follow-up conversations that night.
A neighbor in the apartment complex had first called 911 around 6:30 PM on December 23, 2023 to report a domestic disturbance that sounded physical. Collins then called 911 himself and admitted to emergency services that he had stabbed his ex-girlfriend.
The report stated that Brenneman arrived at their shared home to pick up some clothes for her and their three-month-old son, who had been staying with her mother since the couple’s relationship ended.
Collins accused the victim of cheating on him and the argument escalated when the issue of child custody arose, when Collins pulled a pocket knife from his right front pants pocket and began punching the victim in the head and neck again and again stiches.
“My plan was to kill her and then kill myself,” Collins told police the night of his arrest.
During the stabbing incident, Collins told the victim that if she told him she loved him, he would stop and call 911. She did.
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Collins was allowed to enter a plea of no contest as charged due to the possibility of civil liability in the incident.
Assault with intent to murder is punishable by life in prison or any number of years under Michigan law.
Brenneman was released from Hillsdale Hospital the night of the stabbing with reportedly more than a dozen stab wounds to her head and neck.
– Contact reporter Corey Murray at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Sentencing postponed for Dustin Collins charged in stabbing incident