Julia Aubrey Wade clung to life for over three months before dying of injuries from a hit-and-run collision in southeast Salem. She was 26. The driver who struck her in January 2023 as she crossed the intersection of Southeast Lancaster Drive and Rickey Street was sentenced on Friday to nearly 10 years in prison.  Eric R. Webb, 51, will receive credit for the 26 months he has spent in the Marion County Jail since his arrest. He pleaded guilty on Feb. 12 to criminally negligent homicide, failure to perform duties of a driver to injured persons, driving under the influence of intoxicants and aggravated driving while suspended. The plea deal marked the eighth time that Webb, a longtime Salem veterinarian, was convicted of intoxicated driving. Four of the cases involved a crash, according to Marion County Deputy District Attorney David R. Wilson. Wilson said during the sentencing hearing that judges had five times suspended Webb’s driver’s license for life. He has served two prison sentences and was most recently released in January 2022.  Webb’s plea deal reduced his original charge of first-degree manslaughter to a lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide. Marion County Circuit Court Judge Tracy Prall acknowledged during the sentencing hearing that prosecutors would have proceeded to trial on the more serious charge “if it were a cut-and-dry case.” Wilson said at the hearing that Wade did not have the right of way when she crossed a crosswalk at the time of the crash. Other drivers at the intersection described seeing Wade run across the street. “It wasn’t a situation where the intersection is so dark that she couldn’t be seen,” Wilson said. Wade was homeless at the time of her death. A blood draw taken around two hours after the crash showed that Webb had a blood-alcohol content of 0.04. Wilson said prosecutors planned to argue at trial that Webb’s blood-alcohol level would have been about 0.06 at the time of the crash. Webb also had in his system butorphanol, used as a sedative in veterinary medicine and for migraines in humans; gabapentin, prescribed for seizures; and the muscle relaxant methocarbamol, according to Wilson. He said Webb’s attorneys had presented a report by an expert who determined that no driver would have been able to see Wade and react quickly enough to avoid a crash. Prosecutors planned to present evidence that Webb “would have had time to react had he been sober,” Wilson said. Affidavits of the Salem and Keizer police departments provided an account of the deadly crash and Webb’s arrest.  Salem police responded around 10:30 p.m. on Jan 21, 2023, to a report that a pickup truck driver had struck a pedestrian at the intersection of Southeast Lancaster Drive and Rickey Street. “This is bad,” a witness told emergency dispatchers, according to the Salem police affidavit. Shortly after, she reported that the driver had fled the scene, leaving the injured pedestrian in the road. A second witness followed the driver north on Interstate 5 while speaking with dispatchers, who relayed information to police. He later told police that he saw the driver proceed past a red light onto the freeway, accelerate to what he estimated was 90 miles per hour and eventually exit at Northeast Portland Road. A Keizer police officer spotted the truck on Northeast Hyacinth Street, about 6 miles north of the crash scene. He tried to stop the driver, who accelerated to a high speed before having to stop at a gate at the end of Northeast Claxter Road and exiting the truck.  Police identified the driver as Webb and arrested him. While being driven to the Salem police station, Webb told police that he had left a late Christmas party at his work, where he drank two beers. He also said he had taken seizure medication that day. Webb later said in a phone call to his wife that he’d had about four drinks at the party, prosecutors said at his sentencing hearing. Webb said he was driving south on Lancaster and saw the pedestrian as he was proceeding through the intersection. He said he pulled over momentarily, saw the pedestrian in the road and believed they were dead. “Eric then said he knew he was going to prison and wanted to enjoy the last moments of freedom he had left, so he admitted to leaving the scene of the crash without checking on the pedestrian,” according to an affidavit. The pedestrian, who police identified as Wade, was taken to Salem Hospital in critical condition and later to Oregon Health & Science University Hospital in Portland. Her mother, Jodi Wade, told Salem Reporter that her daughter was still in a coma when she was eventually moved to a nursing home, where she died on April 27, 2023. ‘100% avoidable’ Marion County prosecutors and Webb’s attorney’s agreed to let the judge decide a sentence between 70 and 120 months. Wilson asked for the maximum sentence, citing Webb’s criminal history. “This goes beyond addiction, Wilson said, noting that Webb bought a car and registered it in his name despite being under several lifetime suspensions that barred him from driving. “You don’t have to be an addict to do that. That’s a blatant choice just to disregard the rules that society has.” Attorney Zach Causey, who represented Webb, said the case had “a unique and sad set of facts.” He said Webb had a green light when Wade ran across the sidewalk at about 7 miles per hour.  Causey asked the judge to impose an 84-month sentence and grant Webb credit for time served in jail. He noted that Webb has worked as a veterinarian for over 20 years, had no behavioral issues while in jail and has family support. “Many people are behind me that will assist his rehabilitation and reentry in the community once he’s released from incarceration,” he said. When it came time for Webb to speak, he apologized to Wade’s family. “Not one single day goes by, not one single second passes by that I don’t think about them and this accident and what they must be going through,” he said. Webb referred vaguely to struggles that Wade was experiencing. He described her and himself as “two very different yet, at the same time, two very similar people each dealing with their own specific set of problems on that night,” he said. “All problems aside, we were both just trying to get home.” Webb said he shouldn’t have driven or had “even a sip” of alcohol that night. He said he is most sorry for leaving the scene of the crash. “My actions immediately following this dreadful accident unequivocally defy all the accumulated logic and rationality my mind has ever absorbed throughout the course of my entire lifetime. The worst decision I’ve ever made, and I’ve made a lot of bad decisions,” he said. “My fight or flight reflexes took control and I fled.” Webb said he sympathized with Wade because he previously participated in a faith-based treatment program where he served homeless people in the Portland area. “I learned in that process that everyone matters – the lost, the addicted, all of us, and especially Ms. Wade,” he said. He also said he needs “a lifetime of active therapy” to combat his alcoholism and hopes to one day help others do the same.  Wade’s mother said at the hearing that her daughter, who she referred to by her middle name Aubrey, had “left the store with plans on returning to her safe place” before Webb hit her with his truck. Webb then left Wade for dead “because enjoying the last few moments of freedom was more important than a human life,” Jodi Wade said. “This man’s blatant disregard for human life is apparent by his choices, his history and his actions.”  “Nothing will bring my daughter Aubrey back,” she said, her voice shaking. “Hopefully, if given in a long enough sentence, Eric Webb will be able to achieve sobriety, get his mental health in order and reflect on his life choices.” Prall described the crash as “100% avoidable” and said she hopes that Webb takes advantage of the treatment opportunities he will have while in prison. “Mr. Webb has been given so many opportunities to recognize that his addiction is one that controls his life, and to make the choice to stop driving,” the judge said. “There really is no amount of prison that will guarantee that you don’t do this again, clearly. It is only the duration of your life that will determine that. Addressing Wade’s family, Prall said, “There is nothing that will bring her back, nothing I can say, nothing he can ever do, and I just hope that the closure brings you some peace.” Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: ardeshir@salemreporter.com or 503-929-3053. A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE. The post Salem veterinarian gets 10 years for deadly hit-and-crash in 2023 appeared first on Salem Reporter. ...read more read less