Lawyer: Stop charge
The lawyer of a South Butler woman charged with aggravated assault after overdosing while pregnant has filed a petition asking a county judge to prohibit the county from prosecuting her.
Public defender Joe Smith filed a Writ of Habeas Corpus on Monday, arguing that the criminal statute under which Kasey Dischman, 30, is charged — the Crimes Against the Unborn Child Act of 1997 — contains language that expressly exempts pregnant women from prosecution for harming their own unborn children.
In the filing Smith says he is “dumbfounded” as to why the Butler County District Attorney's Office is trying to use the statute to prosecute Dischman, and why District Judge Lewis Stoughton held the charges to court at a preliminary hearing.
Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger charged Dischman after she allegedly overdosed on heroin on June 22. She was taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, where a cesarean section was performed a day later and a baby girl required life support for a least a week, according to police.
Smith points to a 2006 opinion by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in which the justices ruled that while the exemption does mean pregnant women are treated more leniently under the law, it's not unconstitutional because a pregnant woman's connection to a fetus is unique and could create situations where she alone bears increased risk of criminal prosecution — especially, the justices wrote, in situations involving drug addiction or attempted suicide.
“In our view, the General Assembly had a legitimate basis for distinguishing between the mother and everyone else,” the court's ruling states, in part.
Smith, in the filing, asks county Judge William Shaffer to dismiss the charge with prejudice, ensuring that prosecutors cannot refile.
No court hearing on the filing had been scheduled as of press time.
