MORRILTON — The mother of three boys who drowned after she drove her vehicle into a lake after a night of partying pleaded guilty to three felony counts of child endangerment Tuesday.
As part of a plea deal, Amber Turley, 27, was sentenced in Conway County Circuit Court to six years in a regional lockup with four of those years suspended.
If Turley follows the rules in the minimum-security facility, which is similar to a boot camp and offers inmates psychological counseling and substance abuse treatment, she could be paroled in 12 months, officials said.
Turley previously admitted to police that she drank alcohol and smoked marijuana at a party before the April 19, 2009, accident, which claimed the lives of her sons, Aaron, 8; Alex, 7; and Anthony, 2.
Laboratory tests showed that Turley also tested positive for a class of sleeping and anti-anxiety pills that includes drugs such as Xanax and Valium.
Moments before his former wife was led away in handcuffs, James Turley said she should have been convicted of the more serious charge of manslaughter.
She was impaired at the time of the accident, James Turley said. He said she left a voice-mail message for him 37 minutes before the 3:39 a.m. accident asking for help with a ride home.
“Child endangerment? That’s what people get for not buckling their kids up or smoking in the car with them. That’s awful light,” said James Turley, who was close to tears.
“I’m sure everybody wanted a little more, the whole county. But there’s nothing we can really do about it.”
Prosecuting Attorney Tom Tatum II said the deaths were a “tragic accident.”
Tatum said after the hearing that he originally wanted to charge Turley with manslaughter. Tatum said he believes that Turley was impaired at the time of the crash but he may not have been able to prove it.
Testing showed Turley’s blood-alcohol level at 0.05 percent, below the legal limit of 0.08 percent. The blood samples were taken about four hours after the accident, Tatum said.
Laboratory technicians said the level of marijuana in Turley’s system was not strong enough to impair driving, Tatum said.
“This sentence is aimed at punishment, giving her time to think about her actions, her addiction and dealing with those issues,” Tatum said.
“My heart goes out to ... all the family for their loss. I wish there was something I could do to bring those children back. But unfortunately, all we can do is try to address the problem.”
Vurlon Egger, the boys’ great-aunt, said that even if Turley could not be charged with manslaughter, she should have received the maximum sentence of six years for each count of endangering the welfare of a minor. That would have been a total of 18 years.
“For three little lives, walking away with one year is completely unreasonable,” Egger said after the hearing. “I don’t understand the system. I never will.”
Turley drove into Brewer Lake near Plumerville while headed home from a late night party in Conway.
Brewer Lake is man-made and provides water for Conway and other communities.
Turley told police that she mistakenly turned onto rural Johnny Walker Road on her way home, according to court documents. The road turns into a boat ramp that leads directly into Brewer Lake.
Turley later told police that she fell asleep at the wheel and woke up in the water, according to court documents. She said she got her three children out of the vehicle but then lost them in the dark water.
Turley went to shore herself and then found help at a nearby house, but the children had all drowned before authorities could pull their limp bodies from the lake.
On Tuesday, wearing a purple blouse under a black cardigan and her brown hair at shoulder length, Turley broke into tears while admitting what she had done before Circuit Judge Jerry Don Ramey.
Turley’s soft voice and sobbing hid most of her statement, but she did publicly acknowledge drinking and then driving into the lake.
She didn’t respond to the throng of news reporters who shouted questions at her as she was loaded into a squad car on her way to jail.
Turley’s relatives, who all left the hearing immediately without taking questions, sat on the opposite side of the courtroom from James Turley’s family.
Amber Turley’s father, Larry Hopkins, hung up the telephone when called for comment at his home after the hearing.
Pat Bradley, James Turley’s aunt, hugged Amber Turley after reading a statement in court.
Afterward, she said she knows that Amber Turley is sorry. Bradley said she doesn’t have “revenge in her heart” for the mother.
“It’s hard because she was in our family for a long time. I feel for her, and I feel for her family, but our family has hurt too,” Bradley said.
She pointed to the struggles of James Turley, who has run afoul of the law since his boys’ deaths.
Since the accident, he has been arrested on misdemeanor charges of drinking in public, fleeing an officer, driving on a suspended license and driving without insurance.
He was already on probation after pleading guilty to fleeing from an officer and driving while intoxicated, resulting from a 2007 arrest.
“He’s been through a lot, and he hasn’t handled it very well,” Bradley said. “But hopefully he’ll get better.”
Teresa Belew, a Mothers Against Drunk Driving representative who assisted James Turley’s family during the court case, said after the hearing that the lesson to be learned is that “every child deserves a designated driver.”
Turley decided to take a risk and drive home herself, Belew said.
“That gamble did not pay off for her at all,” Belew said. “Really, it’s misery, upon misery, upon misery with this.”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/17/2010