OMAHA, Neb. OMAHA, Neb.
According to prosecutors, Celeste Burgess delivered the stillborn baby at 29 weeks and 5 days of her pregnancy. Although she was only 17 years old at the time, prosecutors charged her with adult crimes.
Burgess pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison for a felony of concealing or abandoning the body. The prosecution dropped two misdemeanors. The fetus, which was buried north of Norfolk, in northeast Nebraska, was discovered.
Jessica Burgess in court in Madison County, Neb., in 2022.
WOWT
Jessica Burgess (42), her mother, is accused of helping illegally with the abortion in spring last year. The prosecutor said that he has never charged anyone before with violating Nebraska’s 20-week limit on abortions, which was passed in 2010. On Monday, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen has signed into law a 12-week ban on abortion. The law took immediate effect.
The case against mother and daughter is partly based on Facebook messages that the two women exchanged regarding their plan to get the medication for an abortion, and then burn the fetus.
Jessica Burgess pleaded not-guilty and will be back in court for a pre-trial hearing on 7 July. Her lawyer did not immediately reply to a Monday message.
Celeste Burgess’s sentencing is set for July 20. She could face up to two-years in prison. The prosecutors agreed to refrain from making a recommendation on sentencing.
In one of the messages obtained by investigators with a search order, the daughter said that she couldn’t wait for the “thing” to be removed from her body. She also mentioned “I’ll finally be able wear jeans.”
Jessica Burgess sent a message to her daughter in which she told her how to terminate her pregnancy.
Last summer, an unidentified man was found guilty of a misdemeanor after he helped the women bury their fetus.
