Twins’ Mother Pleads Innocent

An Orange County mother whose 3-month-old twins died apparently of heat stroke when left in a car last summer pleaded innocent today to charges of involuntary manslaughter and felony child endangerment.

Beverly Jean Ernst entered the pleas before Superior Court Judge Luis Cardenas, who ordered a jury trial Feb. 9. Ernst, 25, remained free on her own recognizance. Her twins, Adam Ray and Ashley Rachelle, died in July after being left as long as five hours inside a car where temperatures could have reached 120 degrees, authorities said.