SALT LAKE CITY — Courtroom staff were in tears as a mother she spoke to one of the men responsible for her daughter’s death at his sentencing Friday.
Marie Leavitt faced Timote Fonua, the man who murdered her daughter, 27-year-old Kathryn "Blaire" Leavitt, in 2019.
“You need to understand the young life that you took,” Leavitt said.
As Leavitt spoke, Fonua kept his head down.
“She forgave you the moment it happened," said Leavitt. "I’m not her, but I want you to understand, Mr. Fonua, I do forgive you. But that’s not to lighten your burden. It’s to lighten mine.”
Fonua was convicted of shooting Blaire after her roommate asked him and five others to leave their home for being too loud. He remained at large for three years until he was arrested in California.
At the end of the hearing, Judge Dianna Gibson sentenced Fonua to a 1-15 years in prison for the first count of manslaughter and five years-to-life on a second county of aggravated burglary.
“I love my child with every ounce of my being, every day," said Leavitt after the hearing, adding that she doesn't feel justice was served because "there's not an amount of sentencing for anybody who's been in this position who could say that it was worth it. Our children are not coming home at the end of the day.”
Marie carries Blaire’s selfless spirit with her every day.
“When I tell you that making Blaire proud of me every day as I am. Sometimes I succeed. Sometimes I fall short, but there's not a day that goes by that I help take, what would she want me to do? What would she say so that I would make better choices, better decisions,” asked Marie.
She says she chose to speak in court Friday to make her daughter proud and to let other families who have faced an unimaginable tragedy to know they are not alone.
"If I could help any mother out there, any parent out there get through this pain. I would, i would openly do so," said Leavitt. "[Blaire] would want me to. That's who she is.”
