What should we expect and how do we handle the suitation?

My brother is separated from his wife . He was told his wife was having a party . He called his wife and asked her i heard you are having a party? She said just a little get together. Well he asked her where were the kids going to be ? htey havbe three kids together. Well she told him the kids are going to stay down her mother's. Well later on he was very upset and kicked the door down , the door hit his wife in the eye and it was swollen. The kids were in the house at the time .Some guys i guess came to her defense and they tried to stop him but he ended up punching one of the guys in the face . The police was called but the guys were gone before the police showed up . His wife does not want to press charges but their was pictures taken of her eye and the state has gotten involved. He was told it can go either way either it was a big misunderstanding or he will have three counts of assaults against him . What should he do ? Is he looking at serious jail time.I have to admit he does have a criminal past when he was younger, but he has been out of trouble for 8 yrs now . What should we expect and how do we handle the suitation

Make sure you or he hires counsel (or at least the public defender) to try to keep this off the record eventually--jail time is probably not likely if his record is clear now. But having that arrest and/or a conviction on the record will make job-hunting etc. more difficult. Often this could be negotiated down to some kind of court supervision etc. If it eventually appears it cannot be negotiated down, or he (or you) needs to discuss this in more detail with senior counsel to review options etc., please let us know...