Man convicted of dealing drugs

A Spokane man accused of murdering his wife by running her down with a van while their children watched was convicted Tuesday of dealing drugs.

Richard A. Atkinson, 32, sold methamphetamine to a police informer at the Top Hat bar, 6412 N. Division, on Jan. 15, a Spokane County Superior Court jury ruled at the end of a two-day trial.

Atkinson faces a standard range of 12 to 20 months in prison when Judge Michael Price sentences him on Dec. 7 for one count of delivering a controlled substance.

Atkinson also faces trial Jan. 18 on one count of first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree assault and one count of reckless endangerment. Those charges spring from an April 12 incident in which Atkinson allegedly killed his estranged wife, Andrea Atkinson, 29.

According to charging documents, Atkinson rammed his wife’s vehicle and ran it off the road at Princeton and Lidgerwood. Then, authorities allege, he deliberately ran her down while she was getting their children out of her disabled van.

Witnesses said Andrea Atkinson pushed the children to safety when her husband’s van struck hers, knocking her down. She got up and ran through the gate of a chain-link fence, but her husband allegedly knocked the fence down to run over her.

The three assault charges pertain to Richard and Andrea Atkinson’s children. The reckless endangerment charge lists Richard Atkinson’s 9-year-old daughter from a previous relationship as the victim.

The 9-year-old girl was riding with Richard Atkinson, screaming at him to stop, when he rammed Andrea Atkinson’s van, according to court documents.