The defense attorney for a woman facing methamphetamine and child abuse charges has filed a motion for dismissal, claiming prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense.

Susan Schmidt, the defense attorney for Stacey Hildebrand, filed the motion for dismissal on Thursday.

Schmidt said Tuesday morning during a hearing at the Burleigh County Courthouse that the Burleigh County State's Attorneys Office failed to give her two police supplements from the original police report. She said one of the documents mentioned evidence she did not know about until she received a presentence investigation on the case.

Burleigh County Assistant State's Attorney Cynthia Feland, who covered the hearing for Assistant State's Attorney Julie Lawyer, said the documents Schmidt mentioned were part of the original police report and did not contain new evidence. The documents contained "virtually identical information" to other police reports.

Feland said the state's attorney's office keeps all files open to defense attorneys, so Schmidt would have been allowed to look at all of the prosecution files on the case. She also said she is unaware of any cases where dismissing charges was chosen as a remedy to an evidence discovery violation.

Hildebrand, 42, was charged Sept. 26 with possession of methamphetamine, a Class B felony, possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class Cfelony, abuse or neglect of a child, a Class C felony, and actual physical control while accompanied by a minor, a Class A misdemeanor.

Hildebrand was charged with the offenses after Bismarck police found her and her infant son sleeping in a car in the 500 block of East Avenue E at 10:21 a.m. on Sept. 25.

An officer woke Hildebrand. Officers found methamphetamine and methamphetamine paraphernalia while searching the vehicle. Hildebrand's 11-month-old son was found naked in a child seat in the back seat of the vehicle. The baby was turned over to relatives.

South Central District Judge Robert Wefald was scheduled to sentence Hildebrand on the possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia charges on Tuesday. She pleaded guilty to those charges on Feb. 7 while maintaining a not guilty plea to the other two charges.

Wefald said he would not act on Schmidt's motion for dismissal Tuesday, and he does not want to sentence Hildebrand until the matter is settled. He said the state's attorney's office will have two weeks to respond to Schmidt's motion, then Schmidt will have another week to respond to the state. A hearing on the motion will be scheduled after that, Wefald said.

The judge said he is more inclined to allow Hildebrand the opportunity to withdraw her guilty pleas and go to trial on all four counts than to dismiss the charges.

"I can tell you right now, without doing any legal research, that's not going to happen," he said about the possibility of dismissing the case.

Wefald said he would prefer to sentence Hildebrand after all of the charges are resolved.

"It seems silly to me to sentence halfway through," he said.

Hildebrand, who is being held in the Burleigh County Detention Center on $10,000 bond, is slated to stand trial on May 10 for the charges of abuse or neglect of a child and actual physical control while accompanied by a minor.

Schmidt said during Tuesday's hearing that she does not believe the prosecution has enough evidence to prove the abuse or neglect of a child and actual physical control while accompanied by a minor charges. Feland said that would be up to a jury of 12 Burleigh County residents to decide.

"Clearly, we made it past the preliminary hearing in this case," Feland said after the hearing. "Why she said that, I don't know."

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