MONROE COUNTY, Mich. – New evidence was revealed in court on Thursday, showing the woman accused of drunk driving and crashing into a birthday party in Monroe County holding wine about a half hour before the crash.
Jury deliberations have begun in the trial of Marshella Chidester, who faces multiple felonies in the crash on April 20, 2024.
During the fourth day of the trial on Thursday, prosecutors recalled Deputy Hooper from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office to testify during rebuttals.
You can watch the full testimony at the beginning of this article.
Hooper testified that while executing a search warrant at Chidester’s home, he found that there was a camera in the kitchen. The camera had recordings of the kitchen area, including the day of the crash.
Hooper said he extracted the video recordings and viewed hours of footage recorded leading up to her leaving the house on April 20, 2024.
Just before 9:30 a.m. on April 20, 2024, Chidester is seen in the video holding what appears to be a mini bottle of wine while walking around her house. An hour later, she is seen holding another bottle of wine.
At around 10:45 a.m. the same day, she is seen holding an empty bottle of wine in the kitchen and appearing to be tossing it in the trash.
At around 12:45 p.m. on April 20, she is seen in the video holding another bottle of wine while walking through the house.
At 2:10 p.m., just under an hour before the crash, Chidester is seen holding what appears to be a glass of wine. At around 2:30 p.m., she is seen walking back to the kitchen with an empty glass and refilling it with more wine before walking back out of the kitchen.
Chidester told authorities on the day of the crash that she had one glass of wine before getting behind the wheel. She said she drank the wine at Verna’s, a local restaurant.
However, bodycam footage shown in court revealed Chidester told an officer she had a glass of wine “about a half hour ago,” even though she told authorities she had a glass of wine at a restaurant. An employee from the restaurant testified Chidester was at the restaurant from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. The crash happened a little after 3 p.m. that day.
Receipts shown in court during the trial proved she had a glass of wine with her lunch at Verna’s.
Investigators testified her blood alcohol concentration after the crash was .18, over twice the legal limit in Michigan.
