Jury seated as testimony begins in deadly Swan Boat Club crash case
Jury selection was completed Monday for the first day of the trial against Marshella Chidester.
Chidester is accused of drinking and driving before a crash that killed two young siblings and injured several others at a birthday party last year at Swan Boat Club in Berlin Township. The 67-year-old is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death and five counts of operating while intoxicated causing serious injury, according to online court records.
The second-degree murder charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
On Monday, jurors heard opening statements and testimonies, including Christine Sigler, who was hosting a birthday party for her son at the boat club and the first witness called by the prosecution. Sigler, one of the head bartenders, testified she stepped outside to talk on the phone when she heard a sound, and "it looked like a bomb at that point."
Sigler told the court that she saw Chidester and recognized her because she had previously seen her at the boat club. She said she went to the back of Chidester's car and started yelling at her when someone said that a child was under the car. She testified telling Chidester to open her trunk to get a jack and could smell alcohol on her.
Defense attorney Bill Colovos says each of the charges has several elements that he believes the prosecution will be unable to prove.
"Absolutely, her vehicle went through, and it went through 25 feet into it. It went through at 40 miles per hour, absolutely. But let's look at everything, and let's look at it one step at a time. And if all the elements are not proven, and I think two or three of the elements in each case isn't going to be proven, then you do what's justice as a jury," Colovos told reporters.
The trial will continue at 8 a.m. on Tuesday in 38th District Court.
Police say Chidester allegedly crashed 25 feet into a building, according to Monroe County Sheriff Troy Goodnough.
Alanah Phillips, 8, and her 4-year-old brother, Zayn Phillips, were attending the birthday party when the crash happened. Both died at the scene, according to authorities.
Early in the investigation, the sheriff's office said Chidester may have left a bar before the crash happened. At a court hearing, a sheriff's deputy testified that her blood alcohol content that day was 0.18. The legal limit in Michigan is 0.08.
At a Walker Hearing on Feb. 10, Judge Daniel White denied motions to dismiss three interviews Chidester did with law enforcement at the crash scene. Colovos said statements she gave at the crash scene were involuntarily made.
On Feb. 21, Judge Daniel White denied a motion to exclude the results of her blood alcohol test taken after the crash. White also heard arguments as to how state law should apply since the crash happened on private property rather than a site that's normally open to the public. He ruled that the boat club would be considered generally accessible to the public and open by invitation.
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