BAY CITY, MI -- A Bay City woman is charged with a 10-year felony of firing a gun in a building after allegedly trying to kill herself.

"This one didn't need to be a criminal case," said Bay City attorney Marcus R. Garske, who is representing the woman. "In today's society, we are so quick to make everything a crime that sometimes we take someone's cry for help and throw them into the criminal justice system, often making things a lot worse before they can get better."

MLive was unable to reach Bay County Prosecutor Nancy E. Borushko for comment, despite multiple phone calls and emails. Assistant Prosecutor Bernard J. Coppolino, who authorized the charge against the women, declined to comment, per instructions from Borushko, he told MLive in an email.

Area prosecutors say many factors come into play when deciding to charge someone in attempted suicide cases involving a gun.

"Every case is different to some degree," said Saginaw County Deputy Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark Gaertner. "There wouldn't be any cookie-cutter answer for this. You have to look at these types of things case by case."

A large factor in deciding to charge someone is where the incident took place, Gaertner said.

"Could the bullet have hit somebody else?" he asked. "You have to consider, was this a single-family home or an apartment building? Was this in a school?"

While unrelated to suicide, another recent case involving a gun fired in a building is that of Bay County Sheriff's Deputy Adam J. Brown. While testing the trigger pull on his personal handgun in an unoccupied classroom at Bay City Western High School in Auburn in November, Brown fired a bullet. The projectile proceeded through a wall, entered a room where class was in session, and struck a teacher in the neck, though it did not cause serious injury. Brown subsequently attempted to destroy evidence.

Rather than facing a 10-year count of discharging a firearm in or at a building, he was charged with careless discharge of a firearm causing injury, a two-year high court misdemeanor; careless discharge of a firearm causing less than $50 in damage, a 90-day misdemeanor; and tampering with evidence, a four-year felony.

He was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

The woman's trouble with the law began at 5:40 p.m. on July 3 responded to an East Side home after a man called 911 to say he heard a gunshot from his basement. He told police his wife had made suicidal statements earlier in the day, according to police reports contained in court records.

Officers met the man down the road from his residence. He told them he had argued with his 35-year-old wife the day before. He said he received a text message from her that afternoon in which she made references to self-harm. He came home and secured what he thought were all the guns in the house, he said.

As he was later making dinner he heard a gunshot from their basement. He took the couple's two children outside and called 911, court records show.

Police entered the house but did not find the woman. They went into the basement and found an empty wine bottle near a couch and a bullet fragment on the ground near a broken decorative mirror. They also found the projectile's metal jacket and a shell casing, court records show.

"It appears that (she) was sitting on the couch when the gun was fired," officers wrote in their reports, contained in court files. "The bullet struck the wall, ricocheted and then struck the mirror, breaking it."

Officers went into the backyard and found the woman hiding in a wheelbarrow near a shed. They found a loaded Ruger 9mm handgun, a smoking pipe, and an orange vial containing suspected marijuana near her, court records show.

Police arrested her without incident. On being read her Miranda rights, she told the officers she ingested Tramadol and Ativan, then went to the basement. She said she put the gun to her head, but it went off prematurely.

The woman was transported to the McLaren Bay Region hospital emergency room. Upon being cleared for release, officers took her to the Bay County Jail.

Two days later, she appeared before Bay County District Judge Timothy J. Kelly for arraignment on one count of discharging a firearm in or at a building. The charge is punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment.

Kelly set bond at $50,000 cash-surety, with the stipulation that if she posted it, she was to directly enter a mental health facility. She has since bonded out of jail.

The Bay City Times-MLive is declining to name the woman due to the sensitive nature of the subject.

The woman has a settlement conference scheduled for next month.