Father Asks Judge To Give His Son’s Killer A Second Chance

Tim See and his daughter may be two of very few people on earth who have mastered the art of forgiving. Earlier this year, Mr. See lost his 17 year-old-son in a car crash. The suspect is his son’s classmate, then-17-year-old Takunda Mavima. Mavima was driving home drunk from a high school graduation party in Grand Rapids, Wyoming. While en route, the teen struck another vehicle, killing 17-year-old Tim See and 15-year-old Krysta Howell. Mavima, now 18-years-old, showed his remorse as he attempted to fight off tears during his address to the courtroom filled with relatives of his victims. “I’m so sorry that I took two bright, intelligent, wonderful people out of this world …. I wish … I’m so sorry,” he said, stopping intermittently for tears.

A Wyoming courtroom was filled with tears on Monday as Tim See hugged his son’s killer and pleaded — alongside his daughter — with the judge to not give the teen prison time. “I am begging you to let Takunda make something of himself in the real world– don’t send him to prison and get hard and bitter, that boy has learned his lesson a thousand times over and he’ll never make the same mistake again,” the victim’s sister, Lauren See said in court. “I promised myself one thing that day. I promised myself I would not get angry.”

The victim’s father described the courtroom scene as a ‘perfect storm.’
Relatives of Krysta were also present and her mother Angel said that in light of the accident she is determined to raise awareness about drinking and driving. Mavima was sentenced Monday in Grand Rapids to 30 months to 15 years behind bars after pleading guilty to charges including two counts of drunken driving causing death. He will serve an additional term of 30 months to five years concurrently for serious injuries a third person suffered in the crash. While there is a range, the sentence is considered to be on the lighter side of the state’s mandatory sentencing guidelines.