Woman charged in deadly Swan Boat Club crash appears in Monroe County court

MONROE — Marshella Chidester appeared in Monroe County Circuit Court Friday, Aug. 23, for a preliminary hearing. Her attorney, Bill Colovos, was granted three weeks by Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Daniel White in order to file motions regarding experts and witnesses he would like to call during her trial.

White then granted the prosecution four weeks to respond to these motions, one more week than is usual, because the prosecution believed that they would need to the extra time to gather expert opinions as part of the response.

Chidester's next hearing is set for Oct. 18 at 10 a.m.

In Chidester's previous circuit court appearance in July, she entered a plea of not guilty to charges stemming from the April crash at Swan Boat Club.

She faces two counts of second degree murder, two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death, and four counts of operating while intoxicated causing serious injury. The charges result from an April 20 crash that killed two children.

Siblings Zayn and Alanah Phillips were killed when Chidester, 66, drove her car into the club during a 3-year-old's birthday party April 20 .

According to a lab report submitted to the court as evidence, Chidester's blood alcohol level on the day of the crash was 0.18, more than double the legal limit of 0.08. Chidester's attorney, Bill Colovos, had argued the crash was the fault of a seizure, of which his client had a prior history, and questioned the handling of the blood taken from Chidester to check her blood alcohol content.

— Contact reporter Connor Veenstra at CVeenstra@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Woman charged in deadly Swan Boat Club crash appears in Monroe County court