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Manslaughter Guilty Pleas Take Lifetime Imprisonment Off
the Table for Exford
Published: March 25, 2025 at
06:00 p.m.
By: Julie Abbass
for linkinglewiscounty.com
Shawn Exford leaving Lewis County court March 11,
2025
Lowville, NY- Shawn L. Exford
will return to prison to serve what remains of a 25-year sentence for the
2019 deaths of village residents Catherine Crego, 58, and Saratina
Kilbourne, 42, without the risk of
being kept in for life.
In Judge Daniel R. King’s Lewis County court session on Tuesday morning,
Mr. Exford pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree manslaughter in
exchange for the removal of the “to life” from the end of the maximum
sentence he would have likely been given should he lose in the trial slated
for June.
According to
District Attorney Jeffrey G. Tompkins, Mr. Exford requested a plea deal
after his initial conviction was
overturned by the State Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department
Court of Appeals last month, which he was not willing to
entertain before his trail two years ago.
DA Tompkins and Mr. Exford’s attorney John W. Hallett said they would have
preferred to go to trial, each confident that the available evidence was
enough to win over a new jury in June --- especially one informed of
circumstantial evidence considerations in the case of Mr. Hallett.
But with this deal, they both feel they have won key concessions.
“It’s always good to know it’s put to bed for good,” said DA Tompkins, who
was not involved in the initial case. “We could have gone to trial and I’m
going to assume we would win, but if we did you know darn well there’s
going to be an appeal. This just takes that right off the table. And this
still gets us 25 years and two homicide convictions. I think it’s good and
I’m happy that the law enforcement who were involved in it are all
satisfied with it as well.”
He added the plea also removes the risk of “some crazy thing happening” during
the process or the possibility that a new jury might not view the evidence
in the same way as the last.
The DA said he based his decision to offer this deal on conversations with
law enforcement involved with the case and the victims’ family members.
With the exception of one family member who wanted a life sentence imposed
which, Mr. Tompkins noted was never an option in this case, everyone agreed
that a solid sentence was better than risking any less time or another
appeal.
Mr. Hallett said that for Mr. Exford, 33, ensuring the flat sentence
without the “to life” of the maximum possible sentence was crucial.
“I have mixed emotions. I really would have rather had a reckless
manslaughter rather than an intentional manslaughter. I would have liked to
have had a lower sentence, but I realize that it was Shawn’s choice and
getting ‘life’ off the table was a big deal,” said Mr. Hallett. “We held
out for the best offer we could possibly get but in the end
we had to make a balancing choice between the possibility of losing … and
getting life on the end if we lost.”
Mr. Exford will
be given credit for the more than five years he has already served toward
the minimum 21 years he must complete of the 25, making him eligible for
release in 2040.
DA Tompkins said that just as there was no guarantee Mr. Exford would have
“served one day over 25 (years)” under the “to life” addition, there is
also “no guarantee he will serve less than 25” with this sentence,
depending on his behavior in prison.
Final sentencing is scheduled for June 17.
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