A Frankfort man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after a man was shot while driving and was found dead underneath his overturned vehicle in Lexington.
Theodrick Tillman, a 32-year-old Frankfort resident was sentenced Monday after he pleaded guilty in January to facilitation of murder, first-degree criminal mischief and being a persistent felony offender, court records say.
Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Goodman sentenced him for the amended charges: 10 years for facilitation of murder and two years for first-degree criminal mischief. The sentences will run concurrently, meaning his total prison time will be 10 years.
Tillman is being housed in Franklin County. He was scheduled to be sentenced three times prior to Monday’s hearing.
Tillman originally faced murder, first-degree criminal mischief and first-degree persistent felony offender charges in connection to the death of 37-year-old De’Shawn Jimerson. His offenses were amended down as part of his plea deal.
Jimerson, who was from Washington, was found dead the morning of Nov. 20, 2020, after his SUV ran off the road and landed at the bottom of a large culvert at the intersection of Winchester Road and Midland Place. Originally, his death was investigated as part of a fatal crash. But once his body was recovered from the scene, it was discovered he had been shot several times.
Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said the fatal altercation likely took place in the early hours that morning. Police announced the next day that Jimerson’s death was being investigated as a homicide. Tillman was charged with murder several months after the incident.
Before imposing sentencing, both Goodman and Tillman’s attorney, Valerie Church, said the coroner was never able to definitively tell whether it was the crash or gunshots that killed Jimerson.
Goodman said there was no evidence Tillman had a gun, nor that he was the person who pulled the trigger. Goodman also said there was a third man in the vehicle, Austin Pennie, who was Jimerson’s “best friend.”
Pennie faced charges of leaving the scene of an accident/failure to render aid and being a persistent felony offender, according to court documents. His charges were later dismissed.
“It is almost always young Black men who are turning on each other, and society ignores it, and thinks to put them all in the penitentiary and put them out of sight and it will go away and we won’t have to acknowledge that we have these issues,” Goodman said.
Goodman said she didn’t feel the people who started a fight that led to Jimerson’s death were being held accountable.
“Why so many young men feel they have no other option but to turn to guns, anger and drugs — that I can’t fix,” Goodman said.
The victim’s aunt and legal guardian since birth, Debra, spoke on Zoom and said she hoped Tillman had a long time to think about what he had done.
“I pray for your family, that they won’t have to go through life without you like I have to go through life without (Jimerson),” she said. “You left 12 children without a father. I don’t wish pain or suffering on anyone but we are in a lot of pain and we are all suffering due to the loss of my baby.”
Tillman also has seven children of his own, which Goodman recognized during sentencing would leave 19 children without a father in their life as a result of Jimerson’s death and Tillman’s prison sentence.
“I don’t understand why grown men with seven and 12 children aren’t with their children and instead are out running the roads and the streets — and why one from Washington state, where 12 children are, was in Fayette County,” she said. “It is not mine to understand, why you bring children into this world and choose not to be with them but would rather run with your friends.
“I cannot make these 19 children have fathers who cared to be home.”
Tillman spoke to the family and court, apologizing for his involvement because “he knows what it is like to lose someone.”
“Everyone makes mistakes and I made one,” Tillman admitted. “I didn’t mean for it to happen but I wish I could take it back.”