Trial begins for man accused of killing girlfriend in Spokane DUI crash

Prosecutors say a man killed his girlfriend while driving impaired and then lied about it. The defense says its client may have been the driver in the fatal west Spokane crash, but he was not under the influence.

Attorneys in a Spokane County courtroom on Wednesday made opening statements in the vehicle homicide trial against Christopher Dodson, 41.

“This case is about the death of Carrie Martin,” said Jason Moscowitz, Spokane County deputy prosecutor.

According to court documents, Dodson was driving a GMC Yukon in the early morning hours of March 6, 2021, on North Government Way near the Greenwood Memorial Terrace when he lost control at a curve and went off the road.

“The road turned, but the vehicle did not,” Moscowitz said.

He said observations from the scene showed Dodson did not brake, swerve or otherwise attempt to avoid the wreck. The GMC then sideswiped a tree going down an embankment.

A married couple told police they were driving by and spotted Dodson on the shoulder of the road waving them down as well as a vehicle crashed in the ditch. The man checked Martin’s pulse but could not feel one while his wife called 911.

The couple heard Dodson say the driver of the crashed car ran away, and that the passenger, Martin, was “32 or 35 years old” and looked like his ex-girlfriend.

The man said he smelled a faint odor of alcohol on Dodson’s breath. THC and methamphetamine were found in Dodson’s blood, according to Moscowitz.

Colin Charbonneau with the Spokane County Public Defender’s Office said technicians examining the blood made multiple efforts to clean up contamination of one of the samples, while another showed meth in his client’s blood. However, one of Charbonneau’s witnesses, a forensic scientist, will question the reliability of the blood results and the process in collecting it, Charbonneau said.

A deputy said in documents that Dodson also told him the driver of the Yukon jumped out of the car and ran away. Deputies noted several signs of impairment from Dodson.

Meanwhile, a deputy started CPR on Martin, who was unresponsive in the passenger seat. The deputy noticed Martin’s seat belt was not latched but it was stretched out in front of her as if someone had unbuckled it. Charbonneau said Martin was not wearing a seat belt, but Dodson was.

Medics took over CPR and took Martin to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center for serious head injuries, court records show.

Martin, who had four children, according to her mother, died at the hospital the next day.

Dodson told another deputy he was visiting his girlfriend, “Patty Martin,” at her Spokane home. He said he left her house and was walking to Airway Heights to his job.

While walking on Government Way near the Greenwood Memorial cemetery, Dodson said he saw the GMC drive off the road and crash into the ditch, documents say. He said he saw a male get out of the driver’s seat and run north. He told officials he yelled at the male to stop but he kept running.

Dodson told the deputy he then checked on the passenger and ran back to the roadway and waved down a passing car for help. The deputy noticed Dodson’s knuckles were bleeding and there appeared to be tiny shards of broken glass on his pants and sweatshirt.

Dodson had a warrant for DUI and his driver’s license was suspended, so the deputy arrested him. The deputy found a set of car keys in his pants pocket that Dodson claimed belonged to his other GMC. The keys appeared to fit in the ignition, however, the sheriff’s office said in documents.

Dodson later told a deputy he had been in the GMC and he swerved for a deer.

Charbonneau said Dodson had just been in a serious crash and panicked in his statements, but corrected his story.

“Dodson was driving the car but he was not impaired,” Charbonneau said.

The trial resumes Thursday.