Alyssa Rae Potter Won't Be Charged for Suffocating Infant During Her Drunken Slumber

A Lake Saint Louis woman accused of passing out drunk in bed last November and, in so doing, suffocating to death her sleeping six-week-old son won't be charged with felony child endangerment.

St. Charles County prosecutor Jack Banas decided to drop the charges after a grand jury decided to not indict 41-year-old Alyssa Rae Potter for the crime.

Potter called police November 19 around 1:40 p.m. November 19 after waking up to discover her son Wyatt lying beside her and not breathing. Initially Potter told authorities she'd had a glass of wine before taking a nap with the child. 

That figure was later bumped up to three or four glasses of wine. But was it more like three to four bottles? A blood sample taken four hours after Potter called police revealed she had a blood-alcohol content of .20 percent -- a level that can lead to "stupor, unconsciousness and black outs."

After the grand jury decision, Banas says his office won't likely press misdemeanor charges against Potter, either.

That news greatly pleased Potter's attorney, who told the Post-Dispatch yesterday that Wyatt's death was "terribly unfortunate" but did not constitute a crime.