Scotts Bluff County District Judge Leo Dobrovolny has taken under advisement a motion to dismiss the charges facing 25-year old Charyse Geurts in connection with the death more than 4-1/2-years ago of her 2-year old daughter Juliette.

No charges were filed in the case until last month, when a grand jury called by a citizen petition indicted Geurts for accessory to murder and false reporting…and brought back charges of  involuntary manslaughter and felony child abuse resulting in death against 26 year old Dustin Chauncey.

Defense attorney Bell Island told Judge Dobrovolny during a short hearing Wednesday that the charges against Geurts should be dismissed because the statute of limitations…the time in which charges can be brought…on accessory and false reporting charges is 3 years and Juliette Geurts died in July 2008.

Special Prosecutor and Banner County Attorney Jim Zimmerman maintained the statute of limitations in this case isn’t 3 years but 7 years because the charges facing Geurts “piggy-back” on the felony charges against Chauncey…which have the longer window for filing.

Island responded that the Geurts charges are separate filings with their own set of evidence and facts. Dobrovolny gave Island 10 days to file a written brief on that issue.

Geurts remains free on $5,000 cash bond while Chauncey, her boyfriend at the time of her daughter’s death, remains in prison in Colorado on unrelated charges. Authorities are continuing to work through the necessary interstate compact requirements to bring him back to Nebraska for trial.