NORWICH – A Bainbridge man arrested for assaulting his wife after a three-hour standoff with police pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor after his spouse fought to have the charges dropped, claiming her drug addiction was to blame.

“It was a case with the situation of having a reluctant victim, instead of one cooperating with the prosecution, to the point where her actions were becoming an impediment in prosecuting. The A misdemeanor and year in jail was a good result to the matter,” said District Attorney Joseph McBride.

Michael D. Richardson, 33, surrendered to New York State Police negotiators outside his residence on Dec. 10 in the Village of Bainbridge. He was originally charged with second degree assault, a felony.

Public Defender Diane M. DiStefano said the police response to the incident was blown out of proportion and that her client was struggling to deal with his wife’s worsening drug addiction and the erosion of his family. The couple has four young children who were placed into foster care following the standoff, said DiStefano.

The victim, Jennifer Richardson, who identified herself in written correspondence to The Evening Sun for the purposes of publication, also claimed her addiction to pain pills fueled the incident and urged leniency on her husband’s behalf. She has also made a number of similar pleas in Chenango County Court to officials requesting her husband be released.

“This is a case of a family basically being brought down by drugs. The wife went to rehab and did all she was supposed to do. Mr. Richardson was reacting to his wife destroying their family through her drug use. All the events leading to his arrest were exaggerated. He never held his wife hostage and he never had any weapons. They closed down the whole village of Bainbridge for hours for what turned out to be nothing more than a domestic disturbance and misdemeanor assault,” said DiStefano.

DiStefano said her client couldn’t help but laugh at investigators as they interrogated him after the standoff, asking him about threatening his wife with an AK-47 assault rifle. She said it was one of the many unsubstantiated allegations during the incident.

Assistant District Attorney Stephen Dunshee, who handled earlier proceedings in court, called the case “a typical domestic abuse scenario involving complete spousal denial.”

According to the grand jury indictment handed down in January, Jennifer Richardson suffered multiple strikes to her face during the Dec. 10 incident, causing a fracture to the right eye socket and leaving her unconscious with a concussion.

Richardson pleaded guilty to striking his wife and causing her injuries. McBride said he pleaded guilty to the second count in the grand jury indictment, which included being responsible for the resulting injuries.

“This defendant pleaded guilty. He admitted he committed an assault against his own wife, in his own words,” said McBride.

However, the cause of the injuries has been disputed by the defense and the alleged victim, who claimed she had fallen down the stairs.

Public Defender Alan Gordon told Chenango County Court Judge W. Howard Sullivan at a prior hearing that Jennifer Richardson was prepared to tell the court she accidentally fell down the stairs while under the influence of narcotics. He also said the family believed the incident was a miscommunication with law enforcement.

“At the time of the incident, the wife admits she was under influence of narcotics and fell down the stairs and hit her head,” Gordon told the court.

Jennifer Richardson attended the Feb. 1 hearing and urged the release of her husband, pleading with the court to drop the charges.