Pretrial hearing pushed back for Norfolk teen accused of illegally disposing of fetus
A pretrial hearing for a northeast Nebraska teenager accused of helping conceal a fetus after her mother reportedly helped her illegally terminate a pregnancy has been continued once again.
By News Channel Nebraska
MADISON, Neb. --A pretrial hearing for a northeast Nebraska teenager accused of helping conceal a fetus after her mother reportedly helped her illegally terminate a pregnancy has been continued once again.
18-year-old Celeste Burgess and her attorney, Chelsey Hartner, moved for the continuation of the pretrial conference and jury trial. Prosecutor Matt Kiernan did not object.
Burgess' pre-trial hearing is now scheduled for March 27, with a jury trial slated for May 8. Her mother's jury trial is currently set for April 10.
According to court records, then-17-year-old Celeste Burgess and her mother Jessica reportedly discussed terminating Celeste's pregnancy via Facebook messages, which were later acquired by law enforcement.
Burgess and her mother are accused of burning and burying the fetus after the elder Burgess helped terminate her daughter's pregnancy with abortion medication at approximately 29 weeks into the pregnancy. It is illegal to perform an abortion after 20 weeks in Nebraska.
Another person, a then-21-year-old man, pleaded no contest to helping bury the fetus north of Norfolk and was sentenced to probation.
Madison County Attorney Joseph Smith told the Lincoln Journal Star last year that he’d never filed charges like this related to performing an abortion illegally in his 32 years as the county prosecutor.
The group National Advocates for Pregnant Women, which supports abortion rights, found 1,331 arrests or detentions of women for crimes related to their pregnancy from 2006 to 2020.