Mother pleads guilty to helping 17-year-old daughter abort, bury, burn 29-week-old baby
A Nebraska mother accused of helping her teenage daughter abort her baby after 20 weeks gestation and assisting with attempting to bury and burn the body has pleaded guilty to several charges.
Jessica Burgess, 42, faced charges after she was accused of ordering abortion pills on the internet for her then-17-year-old daughter Celeste Burgess. The teen aborted the 29-week-old child before the pair buried the burned remains in a field north of Norfolk, which were later discovered by authorities.
As The Associated Press reported Friday, the mother admitted in a plea agreement to helping her daughter obtain an abortion after 20 weeks gestation, in addition to the charges of tampering with human skeletal remains and false reporting. The charges of concealing the death of another person and performing an abortion as a non-licensed doctor were dismissed.
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One of the counts against the Nebraska woman is a misdemeanor, while another is a felony. The mother's sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 22. Her daughter, who pleaded guilty in May and faces up to two years in prison, is set to be sentenced on July 20.
Celeste Burgess, now 18, was charged as an adult and pleaded guilty to removing, concealing or abandoning a dead body.
Madison County Attorney Joe Smith noted that this was the first time he had charged anyone with illegally performing an abortion.
In May, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen signed LB574, a bill that bans abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy. The state had previously banned abortions after 20 weeks in 2010.
As The Christian Post previously reported, the mother and daughter discussed plans to abort the pregnancy and destroy the remains over Facebook. According to court documents, authorities obtained the messages exchanged over social media through a warrant.
Detective Ben McBride of the Norfolk Police Investigations Unit applied for a warrant in June, seizing six smartphones and seven laptops and ordering Facebook to turn over chats between the mother and daughter.
The chats reportedly show Jessica Burgess referring to "What i ordered last month" and instructing her to take two pills 24 hours apart. The daughter would later claim that she had a miscarriage at 23 weeks gestation.
Jessica Burgess was accused of ordering the abortion pills online in March, with a sworn affidavit from McBride noting that a woman claiming to be the teenager's friend saw her take the first abortion pill in April.
As The Norfolk Daily News reported in July, the Madison County Attorney's Office alleged that the pair planned to bury the unborn child's remains in a rural location. The teen and her mother allegedly buried the body three different times and also attempted to burn the body after the second exhumation.
Another individual involved in the case, Tanner Barnhill, was sentenced to nine months probation in August. The 22-year-old special needs man had previously pleaded no contest to concealing a death for lending the Burgesses transportation to the burial sites.
Attorneys representing the young man argued that their client has an IQ of around 75 to 80, and that made it easy to take advantage of him. Authorities said that Tanner cooperated with them during the investigation, showing them the burial locations and the text messages with the Burgesses.
The case has drawn further criticism for the state's abortion laws from progressives. In a Monday tweet, Jezebel reporter Susan Rinkunas stated that the Nebraskan mother and daughter "face two years in prison for accessing healthcare the state made unavailable."
Daniel Gump, a legal researcher and author of Criminal Abortion Laws Before the Fourteenth Amendment: A Timeline and Visual Review of Jurisprudence and Historical Milestones, however, told The Christian Post last August that some abortion proponents are misrepresenting the case.
"This is a case of someone illegally procuring a post-viability induced abortion for a minor, and three individuals then attempting to destroy and hide evidence that included human remains," Gump stated.
"The details of the crimes eventually leaked out, and that led to an investigation that included interviews and warrants to seize electronic devices and communication records on social media," he continued. "Justice is being served."
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
