( CNN ) -- Shaquan Duley made a tearful first appearance Wednesday in a South Carolina courtroom to face murder charges in the deaths of her two toddler sons , her lawyer said . Handcuffed and dressed in orange jail coveralls , Duley sniffled and sobbed through her arraignment , which lasted less than three minutes . She entered no plea to the charges , and no date was set for her next appearance . Duley faces two counts of murder in the deaths of her two sons , 1-year-old Ja'van Duley and 2-year-old Devean Duley . Investigators said Duley , 29 , was unemployed , single and apparently fed up with criticism from her mother when she smothered her children , strapped their lifeless bodies into car seats and submerged her car in the Edisto River . Her lawyer , Carl B . Grant , described her as `` distraught '' and said she was `` extremely sad and tearful '' during the proceedings . `` She had a solemn attitude and was crying before she entered court , '' Grant said . He said he has not yet seen the full case against Duley , but added , `` I can assure you there is more than has been said and reported by anyone . '' Before the appearance , Grant said that if his client was asked to enter a plea , it would be `` not guilty . '' Duley 's mother , other relatives and members of her church attended to show their support during the arraignment , Grant said . The boys ' bodies were discovered early Monday after witnesses reported Duley 's car had gone into the Edisto River outside Orangeburg , about 75 miles northwest of Charleston . Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams told reporters Duley had no means of taking care of her children . `` She lives with her mother , and her mother was a very , I guess , firm individual , '' Williams said . `` She often talked with her daughter about , I guess , maybe being more of a mother or being more reliable . '' Mother and daughter argued the night before the children 's bodies were found in Duley 's Chrysler sedan , Williams said . `` We believe this is a direct response ( to the argument ) from Ms. Duley , '' he said . `` I believe she was just fed up with her mother telling her she could n't take care of the children , and she was n't taking care of her children , and she just wanted to be free . '' However , he said , `` this was n't a hardened criminal . This was a young lady in trouble , in trouble in more ways than she realized . '' Duley has no previous criminal history , he said . Her third child , a 5-year-old daughter , was at the home of Duley 's mother at the time of the deaths and did not appear in court Wednesday . Duley told authorities she smothered the boys by putting her hand over their mouths at the Trumps Inn in Orangeburg , Williams said . Then she drove them to the river while `` trying to find a way to discard the bodies , '' he said . `` She just wanted to get rid of the children , as sad as it may be , '' Williams said . Authorities do not know how long the boys had been dead before they went into the water , he said . Duley first reported that she had lost control of the car , and it had rolled into the river . But authorities believed her story did n't add up from the beginning , Williams said . Her clothes were dry , he said , and there were no skid marks or other indications of an accident at the scene . Authorities responded to a report of a car accident near a boat landing on the river Monday , and divers found the children 's bodies . Williams described Duley as distraught , but said she showed no signs of remorse . `` I do n't believe she woke up and said , ' I 'm going to the Shillings Bridge Road to get rid of my children , ' `` he said . `` Of course , that has n't been determined . I believe she was just angry , upset and for some reason found the boat ramp , but mind you the children were deceased ... so ( she was ) trying to find a way to discard the bodies . '' The father of the two children has not been found , Williams said . Duley `` was more or less being mother and father for the children , '' he said . The S.C. Department of Social Services has no record of prior involvement with Duley , department spokeswoman Marilyn Matheus said . The incident has striking similarities to a 1994 case , also in South Carolina . The bodies of Michael Daniel Smith , 3 , and 14-month-old Alexander Tyler Smith were found in their mother 's car , still strapped into their car seats , in a lake in the town of Union . Their mother , Susan Smith , was convicted on two counts of murder , but jurors spared her the death penalty and sentenced her to life in prison . In Session 's Beth Karas , HLN 's Natisha Lance and CNN 's Ashley Fantz contributed to this report .
NEW : Shaquan Duley was `` extremely sad and tearful '' in court , lawyer says . Duley faces two counts of murder in the deaths of her two children . She is accused of smothering her toddler sons and submerging their bodies in a river . Sheriff Larry Williams : `` She just wanted to get rid of the children ''