Swan Boat Club crash defendant switches to new attorney while awaiting sentencing

With just weeks to go before sentencing on charges from a fatal crash at Swan Boat Club in Monroe County, the defendant, Marshella Chidester, has chosen a new attorney. Bill Colovos, her former lawyer, said he learned about the request to change attorneys about three weeks ago when arriving for a probation department interview that is part of Michigan's pre-sentence investigation process. That meeting was taking place at the Monroe County Jail. Instead, the new attorney, James Warren Amberg of the Amberg & Amberg law firm, was handling the probation department's meeting with Chidester. The client's husband informed him of the change. "I was sort of taken aback," he said in an interview with CBS News Detroit. But added, "I respect that," he said about the decision. Chidester was found guilty on all charges, including second-degree murder, after a jury verdict issued March 6 in Monroe County Circuit Court. Two children were killed at a birthday party April 20, 2024, at Swan Boat Club in Berlin Township, when a vehicle crashed 25 feet into the building.  In addition to the fatalities, several people were injured that day. The timing of an attorney change between trial and sentencing is unusual, Colovos said. This one was further complicated by delays in getting the attorney substitution paperwork entered by the judge. Although both attorneys signed it, he said, the judge did not initially sign the order, and that kept him the attorney of record. To push that matter along, Colovos submitted a withdrawal motion that was scheduled for a hearing Friday.  He learned Tuesday the original attorney change documents were approved. Colovos had expected to present the case to appeals court in hopes of getting a new trial. He explained that regardless of which attorney handles that step, it does take months to go through the appeal process. "I wish them the very, very best," he said about the new attorney and his former client. Sentencing is scheduled for May 15.