Drunk driver sentenced to prison for death of popular toy maker

WEST JOHN – The family of a popular volunteer toy maker killed by a drunk driver reacted to the motorist’s prison sentence and explained why they hope a new law will help other families going through the same legal process.

For Julie Merrill, going to Tiny Tim’s toy factory and sanding little wooden cars is “like therapy”.

“Because you just get into the swing of things,” she said. “You can process thoughts and feelings, so to speak.”

She stood at a workbench on Tuesday afternoon, smoothing car edges while the hum of the machines drowned out all other noises.

She is currently processing her thoughts and feelings about the loss of her father, Claude Nile Thacker.

“How we got here, where we came from and everything that happened in between, you know. I just think about my dad,” Merrill said.

Thacker died after another driver collided with him as he waited at a traffic light in West Jordan to deliver 1,000 Tiny Tim toy cars to children in hospitals in December 2022.

Nile Thacker volunteered countless hours at Tiny Tim’s (Julie Merrill)

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

Judge James Gardner said he followed the sentencing matrix when he sentenced Asael Paul Lyman to one to 15 years in prison for driving while drunk with his six-year-old grandson in his truck and slamming into Thacker’s truck at 90 miles per hour.

The sentence is a second-degree felony, reckless driving causing death. Other charges Lyman was convicted of, including driving under the influence, were settled with credit for time already served.

A jury found Lyman guilty of the charges in May.

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

Judge Gardner said it was now up to the Board of Pardons and Parole to decide the length of Lyman’s sentence, but recommended that credit be given for the 229 days he had already served.

Asael Paul Lyman was sentenced to 1 to 15 years in prison (Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office)

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

She stressed the importance of not driving under the influence of alcohol and taking measures to avoid getting behind the wheel while drunk.

“It was what had to happen. And I think justice was done,” she said.

Family reacts after drunk driver convicted of murdering toy maker

On the other hand, Lyman could potentially ask to be released in just a few months, with the minimum term being one year.

“You know, we’ve spent more time on the entire court process alone than he could possibly spend in jail,” she said.

Merrill explained that a new law that came into effect after her father’s death increased the minimum sentence from one to five years.

“I’m grateful to the families who come after us and who unfortunately have to go through this that they might get to a point where they can take a little break,” she said.

Julie Merrill stands with a Tiny Tim volunteer on Tuesday (KSL TV)

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

As she walked around Tiny Tim’s on Tuesday, she hugged the volunteers and talked to them about how they are doing and how she is doing.

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

She said that since his death, Tiny Tim’s has not been able to fill Thacker’s role because he has spent too much time volunteering.

Merrill hopes others will sign up, as she is doing now and as her father has done for so many years.

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