Drunk drivers for 25 years for birthday ceremony, in which 2 children were killed

Monroe, me. – A drunk driver who collapsed her SUV in a birthday party in a boat club in Michigan and killed two children was sentenced to at least 25 years in prison on Thursday for the second degree.

Marshella Chidester sat only a few meters away when the parents of 8-year-old Alanah Phillips and her 4-year-old brother Zayn Phillips described the effects of the devastating loss on a ceremony last year.

“This grief was unbearable. … she took everything in my life and destroyed it,” said Mariah Dodds through tears.

The security video showed an SUV that plunged into the side of the Swan boat club along a dusty road with a street with 44 miles per hour (71 km / h) into the side of the Swan Boat Club, about 48 kilometers to Detroit.

The 67-year-old Chidester was guilty after a four-day court proceedings in Monroe County for murdered second degree and other charges. According to evidence, its blood alcohol level was more than twice as high as the legal limit.

Chidester's process lawyer suggested that a leg problem could have obtained it to urge the accelerator pedal hard, an assertion that the jury rejected.

Due to her age, Chidester was able to die in prison before being entitled to probation in 25 years.

“I asked the Lord to forgive myself,” said Chidester in court.

Chidester lived near the boat club and had many personal connections, said her lawyer. Her father started it, she was a former commodore and she held her wedding reception there, said her lawyer.