Kasey Dischman

The felony charge of aggravated assault against Kasey R. Dischman, 31, of Butler will not be revived by the Butler County District Attorney's Office.

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 last year to dismiss the felony assault case.

Prosecutors have declined to appeal that decision, according to Assistant District Attorney Lauren Pitchford, resulting in the charge being dismissed.

Dischman's baby was prematurely delivered through an emergency Caesarean section, which led to the prosecution's pursuit of the felony assault charge. But in Shaffer's order, he said prosecutors were misusing Pennsylvania's Crimes Against the Unborn Child Act and added that Dischman was clearly protected from prosecution by a clause in the law that exempts pregnant women from prosecution for crimes against their unborn children.

“The defendant is alleged to have done a senseless, selfish and heinous act that, allegedly, resulted in devastating and permanent injuries to her unborn child,” Shaffer's order read, in part. “This court is nonetheless constrained by the clear, plain and unambiguous language of (the law) and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision ... to find that our legislature intended for prosecution under the Crimes Against the Unborn Child Act, to be barred as a defendant, a then pregnant woman, for crimes against her then-unborn child.”

District Attorney Richard Goldinger had argued that Dischman should be held responsible for endangering her then-unborn child and so prosecutors appealed Shaffer's decision late last year to the state Superior Court, where Shaffer's decision was ultimately reaffirmed.

The case has set a precedent statewide as a first impression, which means that a question of interpretation of this law is presented that has never arisen before in any reported case within the state.

Dischman still faces charges of endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of a minor and possession of drug paraphernalia.

And in August, Shaffer resentenced Dischman to up to a year in jail for violating her probation on a 2016 retail theft case. She was also accused of violating pretrial supervision in the overdose case.

Dischman also plans to file a lawsuit related to the now-dismissed felony charge.