AR Mom Pleads Not Guilty in Drowning

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The mother of three young boys who drowned after she drove her car into a manmade lake pleaded not guilty Friday to three felony charges stemming from their deaths.

A lawyer for Amber Turley entered the plea in a court filing and waived an arraignment hearing scheduled for Tuesday, court clerks said. A judge will set a trial date in the coming days for Turley, 26, who faces three counts of felony child endangerment.

Turley's lawyer, Dale Lipsmeyer of Morrilton, did not return calls for comment Friday afternoon. Prosecutor Tom Tatum, who a staffer said was out of town at a meeting, also could not be reached for comment Friday.

Turley remains free on $5,000 bond pending trial.

A panicked Turley awoke neighbors up a long hill from Brewer Lake the morning of April 19, screaming that she couldn't find her boys. Turley told officers who showed up that she tried pulling her three sons out of Brewer Lake during a thunderstorm but lost sight of them, according to a police report.

Officers found the boys limp and not breathing after the youngest boy's diaper floated to the surface, the police report shows.

The boys -- Aaron, 8, Alex, 7, and Anthony, 2 -- were pronounced dead at a hospital.

Reports from the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock allege that Turley's blood tested positive after the crash for marijuana and benzodiazepines, a class of drugs that include sleeping and anxiety pills. Turley also had a blood-alcohol level of .05, the crime lab reports show. The legal limit in Arkansas is .08.

Witnesses told police that Turley and her children attended a party in Conway County before the crash, and that she had about 2 1/2 glasses of cola and cinnamon schnapps. Partygoers also passed around a marijuana pipe that was refilled "two to three times," according to the police report.

Turley quit drinking about two hours before leaving the party to drive her boyfriend home, witnesses said. The police report shows he sent her a text message asking her to have a good night.

Minutes later, police say, Turley missed her turn on the way home. Instead, she drove down Johnny Walker Road and into Brewer Lake, a reservoir for the nearby city of Conway. Police found her car turned sideways in the lake in about 9 feet of water, 100 feet away from the shore.

Police say Turley later told investigators that she hit her brakes before reaching the water, which they say contradicts statements she initially made to officers as she screamed for her children.