A Garrison woman has been sentenced to five years in prison for charges related to the death of her unborn child.

South Central District Judge Tom Schneider gave Michelle Behles 10 years in prison with five years suspended for endangerment of a child or vulnerable adult on Monday at the Burleigh County Detention Center.

He also sentenced her to concurrent sentences of five years in prison for possession of a controlled substance; one year in prison for ingesting a controlled substance; five years in prison for each of two counts of acquiring a controlled substance by deception; and a five-year suspended sentence for another count of acquiring a controlled substance by deception. She will be on supervised probation for five years following her release.

Schneider ordered Behles to undergo drug treatment and cognitive restructuring programs while in custody and to pay $1,175 in court fees.

"There's no question that you have a serious drug problem,"the judge told her.

Behles pleaded guilty on Feb. 22 to all the charges except on the endangering of a child or vulnerable adult. She entered a conditional guilty plea to that charge, a Class Afelony. A conditional guilty plea means Behles reserves her right to appeal a previously denied dismissal motion to the North Dakota Supreme Court.

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 has admitted possessing and ingesting those drugs, as well as tizanidine, without valid prescriptions. The names on the bottles were not names Behles is known to use. Separately, she has admitted using the names "Ashley Benderson," "Melissa Anderson" and "Allison Hendrickson" to acquire prescription medications.

An ultrasound performed at Medcenter One in September showed the baby Behles 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. Doctors believed the baby could have lived outside the womb.

Behles' appointed defense attorney, Tom Glass, moved in December for the dismissal of the endangerment of a child charge, on the basis that he does not believe North Dakota law considers an unborn child a child. McLean County State's Attorney Ladd 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 sided with the prosecution, ruling that North Dakota courts have recognized viable, unborn children to be human beings in 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 has a criminal history related to illegal possession and acquisition of prescription drugs and 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.

Erickson, who appeared via teleconference from Washburn, recommended a sentence that would have put Behles in prison for 10 years. He requested a sentence of 15 years with five years suspended for endangerment of a child with all other sentences, also adding up to 10 years, running at the same time. That would have kept her in prison for 10 years even if the Supreme Court overturns the endangerment of a child conviction, he said.

"Whether count three is upheld or not, it still resulted in the death of an unborn child," Erickson said.

Glass recommended the sentence imposed by Schneider, which he said also was recommended by a probation officer who conducted a presentence investigation.

Behles needs drug treatment and cognitive restructuring to ensure that nothing similar happens again, Glass said.

"Obviously, it was a very tragic sequence of events that had taken place,"he said. "She's discussed with me the selfishness of the act."

Behles, crying as she addressed the judge, said she needs treatment and wanted to be a "normal mom" to her 10-year-old daughter, who lives with the child's father in Garrison.

"I'm in so much pain as a result of my actions," she said.

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