A Garrison woman has pleaded guilty to charges related to the death of her unborn child, but she has reserved the right to appeal the issue of whether an unborn child is considered a child by law to the Supreme Court.

Michelle Behles pleaded guilty on Friday to Class Cfelony possession of a controlled substance, Class Amisdemeanor ingesting a controlled substance and three counts of Class C felony acquiring a controlled substance by deception.

Behles also entered a conditional guilty plea to endangerment of a child or vulnerable adult. Aconditional guilty plea means Behles reserves her right to appeal a previously denied dismissal motion to the North Dakota Supreme Court. A fourth charge of acquiring a controlled substance by deception was dismissed by the prosecution.

Behles entered the pleas to South Central District Judge Tom Schneider at the Burleigh County Courthouse. McLean County State's Attorney Ladd Erickson appeared via teleconference from Washburn.

Erickson said the Garrison Ambulance Service was called to a Garrison home on Sept. 24 for a report of an unresponsive female. Ambulance personnel found pill bottles near Behles, who was semi-conscious. The bottles were for hydrocodone, locet and cyclobenazeprine.

Behles was accused of possessing and ingesting those drugs, as well as tizanidine, without valid prescriptions. Erickson said the names on the bottles were not names Behles is known to use.

"She had apparently overdosed on medication,"Erickson said.

An ultrasound performed at Medcenter One showed the baby she was carrying had no heartbeat. Documents said a doctor at Medcenter One found that Behles had toxic levels of several drugs in her system, and the baby, which was more than 29 weeks along, did not survive the overdose.

"The child was viable," Erickson said. "The cause of death appears to be the overdose."

The endangerment of a child charge relates to allegations that Behles' ingestion of controlled substances endangered her unborn child and resulted in the loss of the child.

After she is sentenced, Behles has reserved the right to appeal Schneider's decision to deny a motion for dismissal of the endangerment of a child charge to the North Dakota Supreme Court.

In December, Behles' appointed defense attorney, Tom Glass, moved for the dismissal of that charge, on the basis that he does not believe North Dakota law considers an unborn child a child. Erickson argued a child is defined by North Dakota law as "an individual who is under 18 years of age." He wrote that unborn children are not excluded from that definition.

Schneider, earlier this month, sided with the prosecution, ruling that North Dakota courts have recognized viable, unborn children to be human beings in civil, wrongful death cases. He wrote in his order denying dismissal that it would be inconsistent for a viable fetus "subsequent to its conception but prior to its birth" to be considered a child in civil cases but not in criminal cases.

Behles also had been accused of using the fake name "Ashley Benderson" to acquire hydrocodone and cyclobenzaprine at a Washburn drugstore; the name "Melissa Anderson" to acquire hydrocodone and zanaflex from a Turtle Lake drugstore; and the name "Allison Hendrickson" to acquire hydrocodone and soma from a Turtle Lake drugstore.

Behles, who admitted to those allegations in court on Friday, was identified by employees of the stores through photograph lineups. She also had been accused of using the name "Michelle Bahles" to acquire hydrocodone from a Turtle Lake drugstore, but Erickson moved to dismiss the charge because the defense would be able to argue that "Bahles" is so similar to "Behles" that the use of that name could have been the result of a typo or misprint.

Behles has a criminal history related to illegal possession and acquisition of prescription drugs. It said she has served time in a Minnesota women's prison for attempting to obtain a prescription in Polk County, Minn. She also has convictions for possession of Valium, obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, and multiple convictions for issuing checks without sufficient funds.

According to Sam Lincoln of the Mercer-McLean County Drug Task Force, Behles has gone by 13 last names, including Geiser, Kaltenberg and Weeks.

Behles has been released from jail on a $10,000 bond, which was posted by her father, Ronald Geiser. She will be sentenced at a later date, following a presentence investigation and a chemical dependency evaluation.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)