Michigan woman charged with murder after crashing into party and killing young siblings

A Michigan woman was charged with two counts of second-degree murder Tuesday, three days after she crashed her SUV into a child’s birthday party while allegedly intoxicated, killing two young siblings and injuring several others.

Marshella Marie Chidester, 66, appeared in a striped jail uniform with her right arm in a splint during an emotional arraignment in Monroe County, Mich. Throughout the 25-minute hearing, several of the victims’ family members angrily interjected as her defense attorney argued against the bond requested by prosecutors. The judge ultimately agreed with the prosecution, ordering that she be held in jail on a $1.5 million bond.

The court entered a not guilty plea for Chidester, who faces two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of 8-year-old Alanah Phillips and her 4-year-old brother, Zayn Phillips. Chidester also was charged with two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death and four counts of operating while intoxicated causing injury.

Monroe County Prosecuting Attorney Jeffery A. Yorkey said Chidester’s blood alcohol level was over the limit and that she admitted to drinking that day. Friends and family corroborated that she has a “very severe substance abuse issue,” making her a danger to the public, Yorkey added.

Defense attorney Bill Colovos chided the prosecutor for not mentioning what he described as his client’s months-long history of “epileptic-type seizures” in her legs. He said the condition caused Chidester’s legs to periodically freeze - and that she had received treatment for the condition the day of the crash.

“In 60 years on this earth, she’s never had any traffic involvement, she’s never had any law enforcement involvement,” Colovos said. “I think that adds a little credibility to her side of the table.”

After a search warrant was executed on the tavern Chidester visited before the crash, receipts showed she ordered a single glass of wine and a bowl of chili, Colovos said. Four hours later, video footage captured by a doorbell camera would capture Chidester’s black SUV barreling into the Swan Boat Club in Newport, Mich., a creekside recreation spot roughly 30 miles south of Detroit.

Colovos’s defense of Chidester only further inflamed tensions in District Court Judge Christian Horkey’s courtroom, drawing cries and shouts from the gallery.

“She was drinking!” someone in the courtroom said.

Raquel Smouthers, the sister of the victims’ mother, Mariah Dodd, sobbed as she described her niece’s “flawless curly hair” and love of dancing; and her nephew, who adored the rapper Eminem, a Michigan native, and loved to tell jokes.

“Those babies, I can tell you now, cannot have an open casket,” Smouthers said.

Smouthers said the children were sitting at a table eating when Chidester crashed through the wall of the Swan Boat Club around 3 p.m. on Saturday. Investigators said the car traveled about 25 feet inside the building before stopping.

Nine people were hospitalized, including Dodd and her eldest son. As of Monday, two people remained in the hospital in critical condition.

Chidester could face life in prison if convicted on the murder counts.

Smouthers said she can now never look at the month of April the same way again and castigated Chidester for drinking and driving, especially if she had a medical condition.

“Nobody should ever have to go to a birthday party thinking they’re going to die,” Smouthers said.