Man gets 15 years for aiding murder
LITTLE VALLEY — An Allegany County man has been sentenced in Cattaraugus County Court to serve up to 15 years in prison for conspiracy in the 2007 shooting death of a Salamanca man at his girlfriend’s home in the Town of Freedom.
Thomas E. Burrows, 51, of Fillmore was sentenced Tuesday by Judge Larry M. Himelein to serve from five to 15 years for his conviction to second- degree criminal facilitation and to a one-year consecutive term for his conviction of making a punishable false written statement.
District Attorney Edward M. Sharkey said that on July 2, 2007, Burrows aided Robert C. Secrist, 27, of Rushford, in a plot hatched while drinking heavily in Rushford, where they planned to drive to the home of Secrist’s former girlfriend, Krista Brown, of California Hill Road, Freedom.
Burrows owned the van in which he and Secrist and a third man traveled to the scene and owned the rifle that was handed to Secrist, who was dared to “go get” Brown’s boyfriend, Tharin Jimerson, 33, of the Allegany Reservation, Town of Salamanca.
Court records indicate Secrist was highly intoxicated and may have used marijuana. He admitted firing a .22-caliber rifle through the bedroom window of Brown’s home, striking Jimerson in the chest and killing him.
Sharkey said Burrows assisted Secrist in the crime and provided the opportunity. Burrows also provided police false information about the crime.
On March 3, Secrist was sentenced by Himelein to serve from 25 years to life in prison for his guilty pleas to second-degree murder and second-degree burglary.
The third man, arrested March 4, was identified as Keith M. Hennard, 24, of Fillmore. He was charged with making a punishable false written statement, a charge he was to answer in Freedom Town Court.
