Jurors find driver guilty in deadly Swan Boat Club crash

This story has been updated with additional information.

Jurors took a little more than 90 minutes Thursday to find Marshella Chidester guilty on all counts in the deaths of two children, who died after she crashed her Ford Edge into the boat club where they were attending a birthday party.

Chidester stared down at the defense table Thursday showing no emotion at the verdicts. Family members in the gallery sobbed quietly as the jury foreman read them.

Chidester, 67, was found guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of Zayn Phillips, 4, and his sister, Alanah Phillips, 8, and with injuring several others at the Swan Boat Club in Newport, about 30 miles south of Detroit.

Judge Daniel White ordered Chidester jailed until sentencing, which is set for May 15.

The judgment came after four days of trial featuring more than two dozen witnesses. The last piece of evidence jurors saw were video clips from a security camera in Chidester’s kitchen.

The video clips appear to show Chidester drinking wine in the hours before the deadly crash.

In the footage, Chidester appears to be entering the kitchen from a living room area with what looks like a small single-serving wine bottle in her hand. She appears to make several trips to get additional bottles. The later clips show her holding what appears to be a glass of red wine.

Brian Phillips, whose two children died in the crash, said he was grateful for the verdicts and he was heading to his children’s graves from court to tell them about it.

“I will never get peace,” he said. “I never will find peace with this, but I’m glad that the verdict came back on all counts. I am happy with that verdict.”

Phillips said he was startled to see the videos from inside Chidester’s home.

“I had not seen that video at all,” he said. “I seen her in the house walking and seeing how she was still staggering, it was haunting to see. My kids were still alive at that point … if she would have just stopped, my kids would still be alive.”

The videos included no sound and prosecutors made no comments on them as they played, allowing jurors to judge for themselves what they show. But they came just after a party store clerk testified that Chidester was at his store when he opened the door at 9 a.m. to buy a four-pack of single servings of pinot grigio and a full bottle of red wine.

Jurors had already heard testimony that Chidester drank one glass of wine at lunch at a tavern and one investigator testified that he found an empty, single-serving bottle of wine in the center console of Chidester’s car after the crash.

Defense attorney Bill Colovos wondered aloud why prosecutors didn’t show the videos when they presented their case. They saved them for rebuttal after the defense presented its case, which included an expert who questioned the accuracy of an alcohol detection test done on Chidester’s blood.

Assistant Monroe County Prosecutor Kenneth Laurain said there was nothing wrong with waiting to show the video clips.

“We prove drunken driving through the blood result,” Laurain said. “Once Mr. Colovos wanted to challenge that, I have what I believe to be other evidence of alcohol consumption. I’m going to play that for you.”

Prosecutor Jeff Yorkey acknowledged the videos were unusual. He said he couldn’t recall a previous case where a home security camera ended up incriminating its owner.

“I can’t think of an instance where something like that has occurred,” Yorkey said.

Colovos said he plans an appeal on Chidester’s behalf. He said he fought to keep the videos out of evidence. He said the search warrants investigators used to obtain them were flawed and he plans to raise that issue on appeal.

The videos ended the evidence in a trial that began on Monday. Jurors heard emotional testimony from victims of the crash and others who witnessed it.

Chidester was 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.

Free Press staff writer Christina Hall contributed to this report.

Contact John Wisely: [email protected]. On X: @jwisely

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