MONROE — A Monroe County woman will stand trial on nine counts, including two counts of second-degree murder, for crashing her car into the Swan Boat Club in Berlin Township, killing two children and injuring several others on April 20.
Judge Michael Brown from the First District Court in Monroe ruled that prosecutors presented enough evidence at a preliminary examination on Thursday for the case to go to trial.
The crash killed Alanah Phillips, 8, and her brother Zayn Phillips, 5.
Assistant Prosecutors Kenneth Laurain and Chris Marriott presented clips of surveillance videos showing an SUV driven by Marshella Chidester, 66, plowing through a wall of the boat club at approximately 3 p.m. where a children’s birthday party was being held.
First responders, including deputies from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, provided testimony at the hearing and footage from their body cameras showing the chaos in the aftermath of the crash.
The prosecution’s first witness was William Schmidt, who lives next door to the boat club. He said he heard an “explosion” at about 3 p.m. and assumed it was something being thrown into a dumpster near his home. He went outside to investigate and saw the hole in the wall of the boat club.
He took video from his cell phone as he approached the hole. The SUV was on the other side of the room, with its hazard lights flashing.
Sgt. Mike Bomia, with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, said he was dispatched to the scene for a serious injury crash at the boat club. When he got to the location, he learned there were victims stuck under the vehicle.
“It was a chaotic scene. There were multiple people on the ground who were injured, asking for help,” Sgt. Bomia said.
As he approached Ms. Chidester, he asked her a series of questions regarding the crash, according to his body cam footage.
He asked what happened. She said she has seizures. He asked if she takes medicine for the seizures, and she said she did. He asked if she had consumed alcohol that day, and she said she drank wine.
Monroe County Deputy Sheriff Steven Schmidt said when he arrived at the scene, he saw “people running around and screaming.” He saw a child on the ground who was not moving or breathing.
He gave Ms. Chidester sobriety tests, including counting back from 100. She had issues after 90, he said. She passed reciting the alphabet test.
Her eyes were bloodshot, and she smelled of alcohol, he added. At that time, he arrested her.
Deputy Schmidt asked Ms. Chidester how intoxicated she was on a scale of 1-10. She replied 7. He also asked if she was sober enough to drive, and she said she was not.
Defense attorney Bill Colovos questioned whether Ms. Chidester was given her Miranda Rights before Deputy Schmidt questioned her.
Deputy Schmidt said he had not, but he had watched another deputy do so.
Mr. Colovos noted that the deputy was not in the courtroom to give such testimony. He objected to Deputy Schmidt’s testimony that he watched another deputy give the Miranda Rights as being hearsay. The judge overruled his objection.
Ms. Chidester was transported to the hospital for a blood draw, which showed she had a blood alcohol level of 0.18, twice the legal limit for operating a vehicle. A lab report also showed she had gabapentin in her blood. The drug is used to treat seizures.
Det. Sgt. Jeff Hooper, from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, coordinated evidence collection at the scene. Footage from surveillance cameras at Ms. Chidester’s house, which is just 500 feet from the boat club, showed her entering her SUV and backing out of her driveway but going beyond the last frame, where she hit a neighbor’s vehicle, then sped off to the boat club just moments before the crash.
Monroe County Sheriff Lt. Brian Quinn is an Electronic Data Recording analysis expert. He said a review of the device, which records data five seconds before a crash, showed Ms. Chidester’s speed was 44.3 mph at impact. The speed limit on Brancheau Road, where the boat club is located, is 25 mph.
Monroe County Sheriff Det. Josh Motylinski said both children were dead at the scene. He said autopsies showed the cause of death as blunt force trauma.
Zayn’s body was located between the front driver-side tire and a wall. “Several people lifted the car and pulled him out,” said Det. Motylinski. Alanah was located under the passenger side, pinned up against the door frame.
Judge Brown ruled at the hearing's conclusion that there was probable cause to send Ms. Chidester to trial on all nine counts.
“Their injuries were the direct result of the driver. They died because of the defendant's action,” he said.
Mr. Colovos said the evidence did not rise to the level of second-degree murder because there was no intent to cause harm.
He attributed the crash to Ms. Chidester’s seizures and neuropathy.
“Second-degree murder indicates intent to kill or cause severe harm. There was no intent by my client to cause harm,” said Mr. Colovos.
Mr. Colovos did not present witnesses at the hearing.
Judge Brown, before his ruling that Ms. Chidester stand trial for second-degree murder, said she had operated her vehicle at a high rate of speed, accelerating toward the building.
“She acted with depraved indifference” to human life, he said.
Besides second-degree murder, Ms. Chidester will be tried for operating a vehicle while impaired by alcohol, causing death, and operating a vehicle while impaired, causing serious injury.
Most Popular
Comments / 0