Dischman faces state prison after pleading guilty
A Butler woman's three cases in the county came to an end Monday, including a 2017 case that made its way at one point to the state's Superior Court.
Kasey R. Dischman, 32, pleaded guilty Monday to endangering the welfare of a child and possessing drug paraphernalia in 2017.
According to Assistant District Attorney Laura Pitchford, Dischman faces a state prison term of 1 to 2 years with an undetermined probation sentence.
Dischman will be sentenced at some point in the future.
Dischman also pleaded guilty to drug paraphernalia in a second case. As part of the plea deal, Pitchford said, a third case involving drugs was dropped. In all three cases, Dischman is represented by public defender Joseph Smith.
Dischman had been accused of overdosing June 22, 2017, while she was seven months pregnant. Prosecutors with the district attorney's office had argued that Dischman's use of drugs and subsequent overdose was a direct assault against her in utero baby.
But in September, a Superior Court reaffirmed Judge William Shaffer's decision in 2017 to dismiss the felony assault case, citing a state law drafted by state Rep. Dennis O'Brien, R-169th, in the 1990s.
In Shaffer's order, he said prosecutors overreached in their attempt to charge Dischman with aggravated assault using Pennsylvania's Crimes Against the Unborn Child Act. He said Dischman was clearly protected from prosecution by a clause in the law that exempts pregnant women from prosecution for crimes against their unborn children.
Prosecutors declined to appeal that decision, resulting in the charge being dismissed.
Dischman's most recent case, which was dismissed, was the result of a two month search for her after she violated house arrest and allegedly cut off an electronic monitoring device Jan. 28 and fled her city apartment. Police arrested her March 24.
