Man sentenced to 13 years for hitting, killing 56-year-old while intoxicated in 2022

Family and friends told Spokane County Superior Court Judge Raymond Clary on Wednesday how traumatic and heartbreaking losing 56-year-old William Elixman was, right before his killer was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Elixman was on his way home from a doctor’s appointment that day in October 2022, coming back to take care of his wife, Debbie Hughes, after she had surgery. He never made it.

“I waited for him until the time he should’ve been home. I called him and he didn’t answer … Ten minutes later, the hospital called and said he was in an accident,” Hughes said. “As soon as I saw Bill, my will shattered, my heart broke and a part of me died that day.”

Jermaine Green, 39, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the death of Elixman. Prosecutors said Green ran a red light near Maple Street and Garland Avenue and hit Elixman at almost 70 mph.

Elixman’s truck flipped onto its top and hit a brick barrier, leaving him to face multiple emergency brain surgeries before dying in the hospital on Oct. 7.

Witnesses at the time said they saw Green hit Elixman’s truck and then run away from the scene. He was arrested a short time later and was found to have had alcohol and THC in his system.

Many family members who gave impact statements to the court asked for the maximum sentence for Green, which is the sentence Clary handed down. One friend, Victoria Wilson, described Elixman as kindhearted, a sports lover and a man who always brought people together. She called Green’s actions “heartless” and “entirely preventable.”

Clary appeared to agree.

“A beautiful man is dead. He’s gone. I reflected deeply,” he told the gallery, before sentencing Green to 13 years. Elixman’s widow hugged her family and cried.

“Bill’s life was stolen,” Hughes said previously. “He took away Bill from our family, our friends and me.”