A man pleaded guilty Thursday in the Macomb County Circuit Court in Mt Clemens to abuse resulting in the death of his obese, bedridden spouse. The woman died in a hospital after being removed from her Warren apartment.
The prosecution said the woman’s husband, Michael Dewayne Brooks, 37, ignored his wife’s illness and allowed her to break out in bedsores and lie in her own waste.
Technicians wore hazmat suits last October when they carried Yolanda Reese-Brooks, 40, from the apartment. The cause of death was morbid obesity and ‘other injuries.’
In 2011, Reese-Brooks was involved in a car wreck that fractured her pelvis and ruptured her bladder. Defendant Brooks then became her primary caretaker.
Police say the apartment was ‘uninhabitable,’ with no beds for the four children and only rotten food in the fridge.
Brooks was arrested and charged with felony neglect resulting in death. Today he pleaded down to 2nd degree abuse of a vulnerable adult.
Brooks will be sentenced March 13. Under the applicable guidelines he faces 10-23 months of incarceration.
Brooks will seek a mental health jail diversion program.
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