MONROE COUNTY, Mich. – A Walker Hearing was held Monday for the Monroe County woman who allegedly crashed into a child’s birthday party while drunk.
Marshella Chidester is accused of driving under the influence and crashing her vehicle through a child’s birthday party at the Swan Boat Club in April 2024, killing two young children and injuring 11 other people.
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A Walker Hearing is when a judge determines if the defendant’s statements to police were made voluntarily and can be used in trial.
During the hearing, multiple bodycam footage from police were released in court, where officers were talking to Chidester about what had happened leading up to the crash.
Chidester’s attorney claimed some of the statements she made to police were not Mirandized, based on the bodycam footage released in court. He also claimed she couldn’t voluntarily leave before being Mirandized, making the statements inadmissible.
A judge decided the statements were admissible for trial as the statements Chidester made to police were basic investigation questions as if it were a typical traffic crash before placing her into custody.
A jury trial has been scheduled to happen in March.
Previous story: Judge denied request to move trial for Monroe woman charged in birthday party crash that killed 2 children
Background on Swan Boat Club crash
On Thursday, June 27, 2024, a judge ruled that Chidester will stand trial on two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of operating under the influence of liquor causing death and four counts of operating under the influence of liquor causing serious injury.
The 66-year-old lived next door to the boatyard in Berlin Township, just off Lake Erie. Surveillance video from Chidester’s own home captured her leaving on the day of the crash, carefully walking down the stairs before slowly, unsteadily and deliberately walking toward her car. After getting in the vehicle, the video shows her backing out of her driveway and out of frame, where she hit her neighbor’s truck in the neighbor’s driveway before speeding off to go to the birthday party.
Prosecutors argued the video shows that Chidester left her home not fully in control before driving her car through the boat club wall.
A neighbor heard the crash and ran to the Swan Boat Club, where they recorded cell phone video of a mother and two children pinned under Chidester’s vehicle inside the building and injured people strewn across the room.
The vehicle was reportedly driven 25 feet inside the building.
Those at the scene were able to find the strength to move the SUV off the two children, but it was too late. The two killed were identified as 8-year-old Alanah Phillips and her brother, 5-year-old Zayn Phillips.
While Chidester said she only drank a little bit that day, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said her blood alcohol level was more than double the legal limit at the time.
The defense claims she only had one glass of wine on the day of the crash and that Chidester had a medical emergency that caused the crash.
If convicted, Chidester faces the possibility of life in prison.
