The man charged in the DUI crash that killed Thy Vu Mims, a Salt Lake City mother of two and co-founder of Mims Bakery, has been sentenced to prison.

According to an April 2 news release from the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, Christian Cody Facer, 43, was sentenced by a Third District Court judge to up to 15 years for one count of second-degree felony murder, and up to 15 years for failing to stop at command of police, also a second-degree felony.

Facer was also sentenced to up to five years for each of two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol, and up to five years for one count of obstruction of justice, both third-degree felonies.

The judge ordered the sentences to be served consecutively, or one after the other, the release said. That means Facer could serve as much as 45 years in prison.

Investigators found that Facer had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.354 when he crashed into the car Mims was driving in Salt Lake City’s west side on Oct. 16, 2021.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported shortly after the crash that Facer was also charged with driving under the influence of alcohol in September 2021, following a reckless driving call. At the time, he had a blood alcohol level of 0.24%, documents show, almost five times Utah’s legal limit. Investigators found an open container of vodka in his vehicle, records state.

‘I screamed and called 911′

On Oct. 16 before the crash, North Salt Lake police received an initial report around noon of two men passing a bottle of whiskey back and forth as one of them drove a Ford F-250, “weaving in and out of traffic” and “running people off the road,” according to a Salt Lake City Police Department detective’s probable cause statement.

The driver was later identified as Facer. Officers located the truck on U.S. Route 89 and started a pursuit.

Facer then drove onto Interstate 15, at times surpassing speeds of 100 mph.

A witness said Facer swerved onto the shoulder area of I-15 at one point, causing “tons of rocks and dirt to fly up onto our vehicle and the vehicles in front of it,” she said. “I screamed and called 911.”

Facer exited the freeway into the Salt Lake City area as he attempted to evade police, the probable statement said. When Facer struck Mims’ vehicle near 500 North and 1200 West in the Fairpark neighborhood, he was driving about 70 mph, more than double the speed limit, the document stated.

Mims died at the scene, and her passenger, a close friend of hers, was critically injured. A dog riding in Mims’ car was also killed.

The passenger in Facer’s vehicle told detectives that he and Facer had been drinking alcohol since 6 a.m. that day. Officers also found partially empty bottles of alcohol inside Facer’s vehicle, the document stated.

‘Depraved indifference’

After the crash, Facer was originally charged with manslaughter. But that charge was amended to murder in November 2021, because Facer had allegedly shown “a depraved indifference to human life,” court documents show.

In Utah Code, a person shows “depraved indifference” if they “knowingly engages in conduct that creates a grave risk of death to another individual and thereby causes the death of the other individual.”

Facer‘s attorney made a motion in October 2024 to amend the murder charge to manslaughter, arguing that the state’s decision to charge Facer with the more severe crime violated his constitutional rights, according to court documents.

The judge denied his motion, saying Facer hadn’t shown that the state would be treating him differently than other defendants in a similar situation by charging him with murder, documents show.

After a four-day trial in February, Facer was found guilty of murder (amended to a second-degree felony), failure to stop or respond at command of police, two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol and obstruction of justice.

‘We’re thankful for the closure’

Thy Vu Mims and her husband, Tripp Mims, created their “cottage bakery” Mims SLC around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shortly after the crash, Tripp Mims told The Tribune that some of his favorite memories of his wife were from the pop-up events the couple held for their baked goods, where he was able to see the way she connected with their customers.

Before Mims SLC, Thy Vu Mims — who was a daughter of Vietnamese refugees — worked as a marketing manager at Salt Lake Community College. Tripp Mims said she made an effort to mentor young women, especially Asian American women, Black women and Indigenous women.

She also taught her sons wisdom beyond their years, he said. The family had recently moved into a new house while expanding their bakery.

The community showed the Mims family an outpouring of support after Thy Vu Mims was killed. A GoFundMe campaign set up for the family raised over $140,000.

Tripp Mims continues to bake. He has partnered with Tomodachi Bake Shoppe, another microbakery, and sells goods at Loki Coffee. Lately, Mims said he has been focusing on wholesale and selling at Wheeler Farm. In a few years, he has plans to open a brick-and-mortar location.

In a statement Wednesday, Mims said, “While my family is acknowledging the milestone of sentencing, we look forward to putting the court process behind us.”

“As a neutral party, watching the courts work is very difficult,” Mims continued. “Now that it’s over, we’re thankful for the closure it can provide.”

— Tribune reporter Jordan Miller contributed to this story.