MONROE COUNTY, Mich. – The Monroe woman who drunkenly crashed into a birthday party and killed two children in April 2024 was sentenced Thursday.
Marshella Chidester, 67, of Newport, was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison for second-degree murder in the crash that happened at the Swan Boat Club on April 20, 2024.
Siblings Zayn and Alanah Phillips, who were 8 and 4 years old, were killed in the crash, and multiple others were injured.
You can watch the full sentencing in the video at the top of this article.
She was found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of operating under the influence of liquor causing death and five counts of OUI causing serious injury in March.
Chidester spoke during her sentencing and said, “I am so very sorry, and I never ever meant to come across as not being sorrowful.”
James Amberg, the new attorney she hired after her trial, said the evidence in this case is “horrendous,” and it’s one of the worst cases he’s seen, but said the idea that Chidester isn’t remorseful is something he didn’t agree with.
“I don’t know what a fair sentence looks like in this case,” said Amberg. “My client is 67 years old. Obviously, she’s going to go to prison today, but even if she serves less than the guidelines in this case, it would likely be a life sentence.”
As 38th District Court Judge Daniel S. White read her sentence, he said, “I believe the jury got it right,” and that this “wasn’t just an accident, it was a crime,” as he recounted facts of the case that were presented during Chidester’s trial.
The kids’ parents, Brian Phillips and Mariah Dodds, gave emotional impact statements before Chidester was sentenced.
Phillips shared that about an hour after dropping his kids off at the birthday party, he began getting calls from people he hadn’t seen or talked to in years, and could feel in his stomach that something was wrong.
He described arriving at the boat club and the chaotic scene he was met with, including the moment he knew his kids were gone.
“What you took from me, I will never get back,” Phillips said in court.
Dodds, the kids’ mother, said it felt like she had stopped breathing when she learned that her children had died.
“The loss of my children has created a void in my life that I will never be able to fill,” Dodds said. “And the grief I carry is something I will live with for the rest of my life.”
She described how much love and laughter the children brought into her life and how guilty she feels doing everyday things, knowing her kids are gone. Dodds and her son Jayden were injured in the crash.
Dodds also read a quote from Jayden: “She ruined my life. I want her to pay. I want her to spend the rest of her life in prison.”
The sentencing comes after the jury returned a guilty verdict in just a few hours at Chidester’s trial.
