DUI driver sentenced to prison in beloved Toymaker’s death

WEST JORDAN — The family of a beloved volunteer toymaker killed by a DUI driver reacted to the driver’s prison sentence, and explained why they’re hoping a new law will help other families going through the same court process.

For Julie Merrill, going into Tiny Tim’s Toy Factory to sand little wooden cars is “like therapy.”

“Because you can just really get into a groove,” she said. “You can, you know, kind of work through thoughts and emotions.”

She stood at a workstation Tuesday afternoon smoothening car edges, while the hum of machinery drowned out all other noise.

Right now, she’s working through thoughts and emotions around losing her father, Claude Nile Thacker.

“Just, how we got here, where we came from, and everything that happened in between, you know. Just really thinking of my dad,” Merrill expressed.

Thacker died after another driver crashed into him as Thacker waited at a stoplight in West Jordan in December 2022, on the way to deliver 1,000 Tiny Tim’s toy cars to children in hospitals.

Merrill is also processing what happened Monday in a West Jordan courtroom, when the man responsible for her father’s death was sentenced to prison.

Judge James Gardner said he was following the sentencing matrix in giving Asael Paul Lyman one to 15 years in prison for driving drunk with his six-year-old grandson in his truck, and hitting Thacker’s truck at 90 miles an hour.

The sentence is for a second-degree felony charge of negligently operating a vehicle resulting in death. Other charges Lyman was convicted of, including driving under the influence, were resolved with credit for time served.

A jury found Lyman guilty of the charges back in May.

“I believe that this is the correct sentence,” Garnder said during the hearing. “The demands of justice, again, require the sentence in this case.”

Judge Gardner said it’s now up to the Board of Pardons and Parole to decide how long Lyman’s sentence will be, but he recommended they give credit for 229 days previously served.

On one hand, Merrill believes in the consequences given for Lyman’s actions.

She expressed the importance of not drinking and driving, and taking steps to avoid getting behind a wheel while intoxicated.

“It was what needed to happen. And I think that justice was served,” she said.

Family reacts after DUI driver convicted of killing toymaker

But on the other hand, Lyman could potentially ask to be released in just a handful of months, with one year as the minimum time.

“We spent, you know, more time just going through the whole court process than he could potentially spend in prison,” she said.

Merrill explained how a new law that took effect after her dad’s death increased the minimum to five years rather than one.

“I’m grateful for the families coming after us — that unfortunately are going to have to go through this — that they might get to a point where they can have a little break,” she said.

While Merrill doesn’t know what will happen now, or if her family needs to prepare for another hearing in the near future. But right now she’s focused on taking a breather.

Walking around Tiny Tim’s Tuesday, she hugged volunteers and spoke to them about how they’re doing, and how she’s doing.

“Being here, wearing my dad’s apron, being here with my husband and my kids, and a lot of other volunteers that feel like family, just kind of makes me feel like I’m getting a big hug from my dad,” Merrill said.

She said since his death, Tiny Tim’s hasn’t been able to fill Thacker’s role because of the amount of time he volunteered.

Merrill is hoping others sign up just like she’s doing now, and just like her dad did for so many years.

“It really feels good,” Merrill said, of being at Tiny Tim’s. “It’s not going to make all your problems go away. It’s not going to bring my dad back. But it’s, it’s something we can do to help in the community.”