PLANT CITY, Fla. (WFLA) – There was powerful testimony from the family of a woman who was killed by a career criminal.
27-year-old Terrell Rollins was sentenced to 30 years in prison after a high-speed crash killed 53-year-old Amanda Renee Holmes-Williams in April of 2020.
Both families were present in a Hillsborough County courtroom Friday.
Both families also asking Judge Lyann Goudie to give Rollins another chance, including Holmes-Williams’ niece Catina Lott.
“If you can, have mercy on him,” Lott asked Judge Goudie. “But do what you gotta do and do it right, change your way of thinking, change your heart,” she said.
Rollins mother Latoya Broome also pleaded with Judge Goudie.
“Please have mercy on him. Please have mercy on him this was an accident, I know in a million years, he’s not that type of child,” she said.
It was April 23, 2020, when Plant City police tried to pull Rollins vehicle over for illegal window tint.
Rollins fled in his vehicle through a neighborhood reaching speeds of 92 miles per hour.
Rollins crashed his vehicle into Holmes-Williams’ SUV – killing her instantly. Rollins then fled on foot and was later found hiding in a yard several blocks away by police.
“But she just had to go home. She completed her assignment on this earth, and you were simply the means to get her there,” Holmes-Williams’ daughter Julonda Wyche said to Rollins across the courtroom.
Judge Goudie sentenced Rollins to 30-years in prison and reminded the court of his two previous stints in prison.
She also highlighted the faith and compassion of the Holmes-Williams family.
“I’ve always sat back and marveled at the families that just are able to forgive – to seek mercy,” she said.
Despite the calls for mercy, Judge Goudie reminded Rollins of his second chance.
“My hope is that when you get out of prison which will be when you’re somewhere in your 50s, possibly, that you’ve got your head on straight,” she said.
