Jailhouse recordings show the Topeka mother convicted of involuntary manslaughter in a deadly crash that killed her daughter and two other Girl Scouts deflecting blame from herself and expressing optimism that she would avoid prison time.
Amber Peery, who turned 35 in jail, is awaiting sentencing on her convictions of five felonies and two traffic infractions stemming from an October 2022 wreck on the Kansas Turnpike.
Portions of jailhouse call recordings were played Friday afternoon during the first day of Peery's sentencing hearing, which was continued to Dec. 3.
In a series of calls the night of Aug. 15, hours after Peery was found guilty, she alleged misconduct in the judicial system.
"It's so rigged," she said, adding that "I feel like the (expletive) jurors were paid off or something."
At one point, she said, "I wish I would have taken a plea." She appeared to say that she rejected a plea deal offered by prosecutors to plead guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter in exchange for dropping the third count.
She also vowed an appeal if she is sentenced to prison, but "who knows if the appeal goes through."
In a September call, Peery said the semi driver "should have seen my (expletive) blinker and braked." She said she never saw the truck.
"I literally didn't know what (expletive) hit me," she said. "I thought a bomb went off."
In one call, she suggested her own vehicle was faulty in how it took the impact.
In one call, she said "I'll take probation."
"Everyone pinned this (expletive) (expletive) on me," Peery said.
In a September call, Peery was optimistic that she would avoid prison.
"This is a vacation at a two-star hotel and it's almost done," she said, appearing to laugh.
"Kansas likes to keep families together. This is a case where I shouldn't be taken from my kids," Peery said, before acknowledging that the aggravated battery convictions would make it difficult to get custody.
"It was a true accident anyway," Peery added. "I hope the judge sees that."
In an October video call, Peery said of the prosecutor: "He's just a ... you know."
"They're really out for me. I understand that the other families are suffering, too," she said, before being cut off by a chicken clucking in the background of the other person on the call.
Peery paced around the jail room and blamed the Kansas Highway Patrol for what she considered an shoddy investigation.
"Everything just went toward me," Peery said. "It's not fair. It's just not."
"God wanted me to have a sit down in jail," she said later.
She blamed the other driver, and thought having her blinker on negated her culpability in the illegal U-turn. She also accused the other parents of committing perjury on the stand during her trial.
Later in the video, she said she read a newspaper article while in jail.
"I just cried," Peery said. "I'm just tired. It was an accident. I didn't kill three children. I got in a car accident."
Friday afternoon's sentencing hearing included the recorded calls, victim impact statements from family members of the girls, testimony from people who supported Peery and from Peery's therapist at Stormont Vail. There was a packed gallery in the fourth-floor courtroom.
It will be up to Shawnee County District Court Judge Jessica Heinen to decide whether -- and how long -- Peery would go to jail.
Kansas has sentencing guidelines that typically make clear whether the recommendation is probation or prison, but Peery's crimes fell in a border box where either is acceptable without going outside guidelines. Judges can also impose sentences concurrently -- meaning the sentences for multiple crimes are served at the same time -- or consecutively -- meaning the sentences are added up to make a longer total prison time.
Peery's supporters pleaded for mercy, said that she feels remorse, that she would be better off receiving outpatient therapy and that her two living children would be better off without her behind bars. But families of the victims asked for a harsh sentence.
Peery was driving Oct. 8, 2022, on I-335 as part of a three-vehicle caravan heading to a Girl Scouts event in Tonganoxie, but she and the other drivers took the wrong ramp to the Kansas Turnpike at the south Topeka interchange. The southbound lanes have no off-ramps or legal turnaround spots for 30 miles, so the trio of drivers made illegal U-turns through an opening in the turnpike barrier wall.
The first two vehicles made it through safely. But Peery's vehicle was hit by a semi truck, killing three girls while injuring two other children and Peery.
Peery has been held in the Shawnee County jail since Aug. 15, the day that a jury convicted her at the end of a four-day trial. That day also would have been the 11th birthday of one of the victims, Kylie Lunn.
Killed in the wreck were Kylie, who was 9; Laila El Azri, who was also 9; and 8-year-old Brooklyn Peery, the daughter of Peery. Injured were her then 5-year-old daughter Carrington Peery, as well as then 9-year-old Gabriella Ponomarez.
Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.