No death penalty for killer of 14-year-old mother-to-be

For court junkies, here's a good trial story out of Wichita today, with a nifty sidebar.

A jury spared the life of 51-year-old Ted Burnett, who was convicted of killing a 14-year-old girl. Everett Gentry, the father of the girl's unborn child -- who got her pregnant when she was 13 -- testified that he paid Burnett $500 worth of cash and drugs to strangle the girl.

Burnett strangled Chelsea, Gentry said, after he'd driven them to a secluded field in Butler County, where they buried the girl face down in a shallow grave. Before killing her, Gentry said, he'd talked to Chelsea about what she would name her child. "Alexa," he remembered her saying.

| Sara Shepherd