Widower ‘disappointed’ in sentence 18-year-old received for drunken-driving crash that killed wife on South Hill

It’s been nearly six months of heartbreak and sheer difficulty since Erick Doxey’s wife of 20 years was hit and killed by a 17-year-old drunken driver on the South Hill.

“It’s brought me and my kids closer, which is good, but it’s been hard,” he said. “I mean, there’s no other way to put it. My kids are 15 and 13 years old. They’re entering the most important years of their lives and they don’t have their mother anymore.”

Doxey was able to confront his wife’s killer, now 18-year-old Keegan Forshee, Wednesday at his plea and sentencing hearing.

He said he holds anger toward Forshee, but not animosity.

“In the end, it was an accident,” he said.

Forshee pleaded guilty Wednesday to vehicular homicide, hit-and-run fatality, vehicular assault and driving without a valid license in the July 16 crash that took the life of CHAS Chief Operating Officer Sarah Doxey, a 48-year-old who was jogging at the time of the crash.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Jeremy Schmidt sentenced Forshee to a standard sentencing range of about half a year to almost two years at a state juvenile detention facility, according to the Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

But, Erick Doxey, 49, told The Spokesman-Review Thursday that Forshee could be released as early as six weeks when factoring in credit for time served.

Erick Doxey, who along with Sarah Doxey’s mother delivered victim impact statements to the court Wednesday, said that sentence would be too light in his eyes.

“It just doesn’t feel good for somebody that killed somebody, and did what he did, to get out after just a few months,” Erick Doxey said.

Sarah Doxey was jogging about 5:30 a.m. on Perry Street and 49th Avenue, near Manito Country Club, when Forshee hit her with an SUV, according to Spokane police. Forshee got out of the car and ran away before police arrested him.

The prosecutor’s office said in a release Wednesday that Forshee was drinking the previous night with other teens. The next morning, he drove another teen home at the same time Sarah Doxey and her friend were jogging.

Doxey and her friend were running on the shoulder of the road when Forshee approached the joggers from behind going over 20 mph above the speed limit, crossed the center line, jumped the shoulder curb and struck Sarah Doxey, throwing her over 100 feet.

Forshee clipped Doxey’s friend with the vehicle, but the friend was not seriously injured. Forshee’s passenger was also injured. Witnesses say the vehicle then crashed into a tree, and Forshee fled on foot. Forshee’s blood alcohol content measured at 0.095, nearly five times the legal limit for a juvenile driver, the release said.

Because Forshee was 17, he was sentenced in juvenile court and consistent with juvenile offender sentencing guidelines.

Prosecutors argued for a high-end sentence given the death and Forshee’s excessive speed and underage drinking. Schmidt imposed the standard sentencing range of 30 to 80 weeks, saying it’s difficult to understand the sentence in cases like this where someone died, prosecutors stated in the release.

Under state law, juveniles sentenced to more than 30 days confinement are ordered to serve a legislatively set range rather than a definitive term. The Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families will determine the exact amount of time Forshee will serve.

Erick Doxey said he was extremely disappointed in the sentence and the state laws for juvenile sentencing. He acknowledged the judge and prosecutor “did the best they could” to hold Forshee accountable given the state sentencing laws for minors, which he called “shocking.”

“We were all a bit shocked with the lack of time that’s going to be served,” he said.

He said he and his wife believe in second chances and he wants Forshee to have the chance to turn his life into something good rather than the path he’s headed down.

“My wife would have wanted him to have an opportunity to learn from his mistakes and redeem himself,” he said. “That’s the type of person my wife was.”