HEBRON MOM-TO-BE INDICTED OVER COCAINE

But Officials Pursue Treatment, Not Jail

A McHenry County grand jury has indicted a rural Hebron woman on a charge
of battery of an unborn child in what is believed to be the first use of
the charge in McHenry County.

Misty M. Petska, 31, is accused of taking cocaine while pregnant. She was
arrested Thursday and was being held in the McHenry County Jail on $75,000
bail Friday afternoon.

However, the McHenry County state's attorney's office is trying to work out
a plea arrangement in which Petska is not incarcerated but the health of
the fetus is protected.

"We don't want to encourage pregnant women to avoid counseling and prenatal
care," Assistant State's Atty. Philip Prossnitz said. "But what we want to
do is prevent the unborn child from receiving this sort of abuse."

According to authorities, deputies answered a call at Petska's home Aug. 10
because Petska became ill after ingesting $100 worth of cocaine.
Authorities said they obtained a search warrant and drew blood from Petska,
who is about six months pregnant.

Test results from the Illinois State Police crime lab revealed cocaine in
Petska's blood system, Prossnitz said. She also was charged with unlawful
possession of cocaine, with the "possession" referring to the cocaine
allegedly in her system.

Prossnitz said he has offered Petska a negotiated plea in which she would
receive no prison time but would be subject to a year's probation, random
drug testing and counseling for at least a year.

"I think at this point she realizes she has a problem and she wants to
solve it just as we do," Prossnitz said.

Her attorney, Michael McNerney, endorsed the concept of the proposed plea
agreement after talking to Petska's husband.

"He is very concerned about the health of the mother and the unborn child.
He wants what is best for everyone concerned," McNerney said.

Prossnitz acknowledged that the battery to an unborn child charge is often
difficult to prove and defend in appellate courts.

Criminal charges for harming unborn children have been leveled by
prosecutors in the Midwest in recent years, though they are still rare.

The possession charge carries a maximum prison term of three years. The
battery charge is a misdemeanor with a maximum jail sentence of one year.