Man guilty of wife’s murder

Guilty, the judge said Friday: Richard A. Atkinson murdered his wife with a minivan, assaulted his children and did so in a way that justifies extra punishment.

When the 33-year-old Spokane resident is sentenced, he faces a standard range of 303/4 to 41 years in prison for first-degree murder.

Three counts of second-degree assault and one count of reckless endangerment could add about five more years.

And a finding that the murder was an act of domestic violence in the presence of the victim’s children could add as many years as Superior Court Judge Robert Austin sees fit.

One witness at a time, Austin ticked off the evidence that Atkinson deliberately chased down his estranged wife, 29-year-old Andrea Atkinson, and repeatedly drove over her on April 12 last year.

Of nine eyewitnesses, only the defendant’s 10-year-old daughter described anything but a “very purposeful” effort to kill his wife, Austin said Friday at the end of a week-long nonjury trial.

Austin said the girl’s testimony was “substantially impeached” by testimony of a police officer who testified that, minutes after her father killed the stepmother she called “mom,” the girl tearfully implicated him.

At the time, Spokane Police Officer Marie Longshore testified, Winona Atkinson said her father had asked, just hours earlier while they looked at a family portrait, whether she could forgive him if he killed Andrea Atkinson.

Longshore also said the girl also said her father had been stalking her stepmother when he spotted her near NorthTown and initiated a two-van chase that ended in Viktor Lavrov’s front yard at 304 E. Princeton.

Neighbor Twila Duncan heard Winona Atkinson, who was riding in her father’s van, scream, “Daddy, stop.”

Riding in the van Andrea Atkinson was driving were Richard and Andrea Atkinson’s three young children – now 4, 6 and almost 9 years old.

Several neighbors testified that, when Andrea Atkinson’s van was run off the road, Richard Atkinson drove back and rammed it again. Then, as Andrea Atkinson was getting her children to safety, her husband rammed Lavrov’s chain-link fence twice to break it down and run over her, neighbors said.

They said he backed up and ran over her one or two more times.

Lavrov, speaking through a Russian interpreter, said Richard Atkinson got out of his van and shook his wife as though to determine whether she was dead. Atkinson dropped his mortally wounded wife uncaringly and tried to back away, Lavrov said.

Atkinson testified that he was trying to help his wife and get his van off of her, but couldn’t explain why he ran away when he discovered that his vehicle was pinned between two trees.

Brian Chevillet testified that he and others chased Atkinson down and held him for police. When he caught up with Atkinson, Chevillet said, Atkinson asked with a cold stare, “Is she dead? Is she dead yet?”

“If that were the end of the testimony, it would be pretty simple, I think,” Austin said as he led up to his ruling.

But Dr. Henry Montgomery, a Spokane psychologist, testified that Atkinson was unable to reason at the time – in effect, temporarily insane – because of a combination of post-traumatic stress disorder, methamphetamine and alcohol.

On the other hand, Dr. William “Timm” Fredrickson, an Eastern State Hospital psychologist, found Atkinson sane.

Austin rejected Montgomery’s diagnosis on grounds that he failed to identify a link between post-traumatic stress disorder and loss of mental ability in Atkinson’s case. The judge noted that Montgomery had conducted only about five forensic examinations, compared with Fredrickson’s record of up to 3,000.

No sentencing date was set, and Deputy Prosecutor Jack Driscoll said he hadn’t decided what sentence he will seek.

Assistant Public Defender John Whaley said a decision on whether to appeal the verdict may depend on the sentence Atkinson gets.