Amber M. Peery, convicted Aug. 15 in the October 2022 Kansas Turnpike crash deaths of three Girl Scouts,, including her daughter, became a prison inmate earlier this month.
Peery, 35, was admitted Dec. 17 to the Topeka Correctional Facility, the state’s women’s prison at 815 S.E. Rice Road, according to the website of the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Determination of Peery’s custody level remains in progress, that site said.
It said Peery could be released at the earliest on Oct. 26, 2028.
Meanwhile, an attorney representing Peery is preparing an appeal of her convictions, and relatives of the Girl Scouts killed in the crash have dropped their claims against two of the 11 defendants in a pending lawsuit regarding the crash.
Request made last week for documents to help prepare appeal
Shawnee County District Judge Jessica Heinen on Dec. 3 sentenced Peery to five years, four months in prison on convictions for five felonies and two traffic infractions linked to the Oct. 8, 2022, crash on the Kansas Turnpike southwest of Topeka. Jurors at Peery’s trial in August concluded she was responsible for the crash.
Kansas City, Missouri, attorney Sheena A. Foye submitted a request Dec. 19 in Shawnee County District Court seeking transcripts of 11 different proceedings held in the case to be used in preparing an appeal of Peery’s convictions.
Foye also requested a copy of the Kansas Supreme Court rule that empowers appellants to request a transcript of any trial or hearing they consider necessary to properly prepare an appeal.
Wreck on Kansas Turnpike killed three Girl Scouts
Peery was part of a caravan of three drivers who were en route to a Girl Scouts event in Tonganoxie when they took the wrong ramp to enter the Kansas Turnpike and realized they were going the wrong direction.
A semi-trailer then struck the left rear of Peery’s Dodge Caravan as she tried to make an illegal U-turn through a small opening in the concrete barrier wall, as fellow caravan drivers Amelia Bailey and Margaret Jones had done earlier.
Killed were passengers Laila El Azri Ennassari and Kylie Lunn, both 9, and Brooklyn Peery 8, who was Amber Peery’s daughter.
Injured were Amber Peery; her daughter, Carrington Peery, then 5; and passenger Gabriella Casas, then 9. They survived.
Here is what has happened with lawsuits filed in the case
Bailey, Jones, Amber Peery and Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri subsequently became defendants in a lawsuit filed on behalf of Tiffany Lunn, mother of Kylie; Rida El Azri Ennassari, father of Laila; Annika Casas and Ralph Casas, parents of Gabriella.; and Andrew Peery, father of Brooklyn and Carrington.
Amber Peery and Andrew Peery were married at the time of the crash but have since divorced.
A confidential lawsuit settlement reached by the parties involved was considered at a hearing last June by Pottawatomie County District Court Judge Jeff Elder, who sealed the file entirely for that case.
Attorneys representing Andrew Peery, Tiffany Lunn and Rida El Azri Ennassari then filed suit Oct. 1 against defendants Robert Russell, the driver of the semi-trailer involved; the Kansas Department of Transportation; the Kansas Turnpike Authority; Western Flyer Express, LLC; R.W. Timms Leasing, LLC; Lear Corporation; FCA US LLC; Adient US LLC; Magna International Inc.; Magna International of America, Inc.; and Faurecia Automotive Seating, LLC.
That suit remains pending, though the plaintiffs on Dec. 9 voluntarily dismissed without prejudice their claims against Lear Corporation and Faurecia Automotive Seating, LLC.
Claims dismissed without prejudice may be refiled so long as the statute of limitations hasn’t expired.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topekan involved in deadly Girl Scouts crash goes to prison
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