MONROE — A woman accused of driving drunk and crashing an SUV into a child’s birthday party at a Berlin Township boat club, killing two children and injuring several other people, has posted a $1.5 million bond to be released from jail.
Marshella Marie Chidester, 66, of Newport posted the bond Thursday, Monroe County Sheriff Troy Goodnough confirmed in a text message to The Monroe News. She posted bond through a surety company, her attorney, Bill Colovos of Southgate, told the Detroit Free Press.
Chidester was arrested and lodged at the Monroe County Jail after the crash Saturday afternoon into a building at the Swan Boat Club in Berlin Township. She was arraigned Tuesday in 1st District Court in Monroe on two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of 8-year-old Alanah Phillips and 4-year-old Zayn Phillips. She is also charged with two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death, and four counts of OWI causing serious injury.
The OWI causing serious injury charges are related to injuries suffered by Alanah and Zayn’s mother, Mariah Dodds, and 11-year-old brother as well as a 14-year-old male and an 18-year-old female, Monroe County Proseuctor Jeffrey Yorkey said in announcing the charges Tuesday.
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The older Dodds boy’s legs and some ribs are broken and his skull is fractured.
Colovos argued in court Tuesday that his client suffers from “epileptic type seizures” in her legs. He said she had only one glass of wine that day.
Upon Chidester’s release Thursday, Colovos doubled down on his argument that a medical issue caused the crash, telling the Free Press his client suffers from neuropathy, “blacked out” from a seizure and is “very remorseful.”
She started having the seizures in November and a doctor told her to stop driving for two months, but did not restrict her further, Colovos said in court earlier this week.
“She feels absolutely horrible. To black out, then all of the sudden be told that two young children were killed … it’s like a bad dream you wake up from,” Colovos said.
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Colovos is still waiting on a medical report that would determine his client’s blood alcohol level around the time of the crash. The prosecutor said in court that a preliminary alcohol breath test was “significantly over the legal limit” but he was not specific.
“Believe me, I’m waiting for it,” Colovos said.
During Chidester’s arraignment on Wednesday, Yorkey asked for the $1.5 million cash bond, pointing to a history of “severe substance abuse” allegedly corroborated by friends and family of Chidester and that Chidester admitted to drinking that day.
Judge Christian J. Horkey agreed to the bond and set conditions upon her release: Chidester is prohibited from consuming alcohol or any illegal substances and is prohibited from driving. She must undergo substance abuse testing and monitoring, which includes wearing a tether, Horkey said.
Chidester’s next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday, April 30, in district court for a probable cause conference. The hearing is an opportunity for the attorneys to update the court on whether they will proceed with the preliminary examination that is scheduled for May 6 or if they will seek a later date for the exam to give more time to prepare or waive the exam and have the case bound over to circuit court for further proceedings.
A preliminary examination is a hearing where the prosecution has to show a crime was committed and the defendant is likely to have committed it in order for a judge to bind the charges over to circuit court.
— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian. Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. She can be contacted at 313-264-0442 or asahouri@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Driver charged in Swan Boat Club crash posts $1.5 million bond