A Butler County judge will determine whether charges against a woman who allegedly overdosed while seven months pregnant can continue in court.

Butler County Judge William Shaffer heard arguments Tuesday regarding the case against Kasey R. Dischman, 30, after ordering a new preliminary hearing on amended charges filed by the prosecution.

Dischman was initially charged with felony aggravated assault of an unborn child following her alleged June 23 overdose, which resulted in an emergency cesarian section and her baby being prematurely delivered. The prosecution also filed additional charges, including misdemeanor endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors and possession of a controlled substance — based on evidence that Dischman's 8-year-old daughter was also present in the house at the time of the overdose, and that a hypodermic needle was found there.

Dischman was charged after police said she injected a bag of heroin found beneath her couch, allegedly overdosed on the floor of her bathroom, and was later found by her boyfriend, 30-year-old Andrew Lucas, who called 911.

Police said Lucas denied there was drug activity at the home, but later acknowledged he had used heroin. Dischman later would also admit that she injected herself with heroin she found under the couch, police said.

She was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital, where she went into cardiac arrest, before being flown to UPMC Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh and subsequently placed on a ventilator. While there, blood work determined that opioids were in her system and she was then transferred to Magee-Women's Hospital of UPMC in Pittsburgh, undergoing the emergency C-section.

State Police Trooper Brian Knirnschild testified during that proceeding that when he arrived at the home Lucas and an 8-year-old girl were on the scene.

Knirnschild testified that Lucas did not appear sober at the time, but remained on the scene while EMS personnel transported Dischman to the hospital.

Following the execution of a search warrant Trooper Christopher Balcik testified that a hypodermic syringe was found in a cosmetic bag in a vanity in the bathroom, which also contained makeup and other female products.

Butler County Public Defender Joseph Smith argued that issue falls under an immunity statute, Pennsylvania's Good Samaritan law, which provides immunity from prosecution for those reporting or experiencing overdoses, and Dischman cannot be charged with the paraphernalia charge.

Even if she could be charged, Smith argued, testimony showed that the scene had not been secured following Dischman's transport to the hospital and Lucas could have used narcotics following her transport.

Assistant District Attorney Laura Pitchford, who is prosecuting the case, argued that for the immunity statute to apply the caller must cooperate, which Lucas did not do when he lied to police about Dischman's condition.

“Without cooperation it's evident in this case it is hard to provide the proper help that is needed,” she said,

For the endangering charge and corruption of minors, Smith argued that the child had been in Lucas' care, and no evidence that the child had been in Dischman's care was presented.

The proceeding also included argument on a refiled habeas corpus motion, which was previously denied without prejudice by Shaffer, arguing that the felony charge should be dismissed because the criminal statute under which Dischman is charged — the Crimes Against the Unborn Child Act — contains language that expressly exempts pregnant women from prosecution for harming their own unborn children, also falling under an immunity statute.

“it is a complete bar to criminal prosecution,” he argued.

Smith argued that public policy is to protect pregnant women, and the way the law is written it is “evident what the Legislature meant, and that is that pregnant women cannot be charged.”

“We cannot have a society where women when pregnant who go to the hospital for care, they cannot be met by state police while seeking medical attention,” he said. “Those services are only available if state police aren't waiting at the ER doors.”

Pitchford argued that when the statute was created in 1997, cocaine was the drug of choice, not heroin.

“I don't think the Legislature could have predicted such a dangerous drug for the users and unborn children,” she said. “Things like this are going to keep happening if we don't read this statute for what it is. For the court not to allow this to proceed would mean there is no justice for this poor infant.”

Shaffer took the arguments under advisement, and will issue a written order later.

Following her arrest, Dischman was resentenced to six months in Butler County Prison for a parole violation stemming from the overdose, where she also is being held on $500,000 cash bail in this case.