GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A Lake County woman beaten within an inch of her life last month is recovering in Grand Rapids, as she prepares to testify against accused assailant—a man she’s been married to for more than a decade.
Sharlene Hubbard said her husband, Roger Hubbard, punched her in the side of her head in a mid-September altercation at their home in Chase, Mich.
“I landed on the ground; he kicked me,” Hubbard said. “He pretty much threw me in our bedroom, and he left me there for almost 16 hours. What was I supposed to do?”
Doctors resuscitated Sharlene in the hospital, and she suffered multiple strokes, said Lisa McMullen, Hubbard's stepmother.
“She’s a miracle,” McMullen said. “They told us from the get-go at the hospital that she should’ve never lived. She should’ve never made it through this.”
Roger Hubbard faces felony assault with intent to do great bodily harm. He’s in custody at the Lake County jail on a $75,000 bond.
“I don’t want to relive this again,” Sharlene Hubbard said ahead of Tuesday’s preliminary hearing at Lake County Trial Court. “I don’t want to face him, but I know I have to. I have to put him away…so that he can’t do this to one of my kids, to me or anybody else.”
The hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Roger Hubbard’s court appointed attorney did not respond with a comment on the proceedings. Records show he has five prior felony convictions.
Sharlene was transferred to Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in late September for treatment. She initially struggled with movement and recall, but has made great progress over time, said Stephanie DeKryger, an occupational therapist at Mary Free Bed.
“It’s such a hard thing to recover from a stroke,” DeKryger said. “We’re getting her back to that return to work because she is quite young. And she’s got two kids that she loves and she wants to take care of.”
Nearly 90,000 people were victims of domestic violence in 2017, according to Michigan State Police data. It’s a 4.7 percent drop from 2016, but Lake County Prosecuting Attorney Craig Cooper said his office has seen a “steady caseload” of victims since he started in 2012.
“There is a steady problem of domestic violence and violence in general,” Cooper said. “I credit the victims for coming forward.”
Domestic violence victims should seek help immediately, Sharlene said, who plans to file for divorce. “Because they’re going to end up like me at some point.”
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