Man sentenced to 40 years for fatally stabbing girlfriend in front of child in 2020

Emily Baude KSTP

Terrion Sherman (Courtesy: Ramsey County Jail)

A man learned his punishment in Ramsey County court on Tuesday after he was convicted of murdering his girlfriend in front of a child in 2020.

Terrion Lamar Sherman, 27, was sentenced to 40 years (480 months) in prison on one count of second-degree murder, according to court records. He received credit for just over three-and-a-half years already served and must pay a $136 fine.

Sherman was initially charged with two counts of second-degree murder in a June 2023 amended criminal complaint, according to court records.

In August, a Ramsey County judge found Sherman guilty of murdering 21-year-old Abigail Elise Simpson in front of a 2-year-old boy.

The complaint states that on Feb. 26, 2020, officers from the St. Paul Police Department (SPPD) were called to St. Paul’s Union Park neighborhood on the 300 block of Pierce Street on a report of a domestic argument. The 911 caller said it sounded as if it had become physical and very violent.

Law enforcement officials breached a door in the apartment complex after hearing a man yelling, “Stay down or I will kill you,” and a small child crying, the complaint said. Upon entry, officers found Sherman standing in the living room covered in blood and Simpson lying face down on the floor with a 2-year-old child sitting next to her.

Court documents say the boy reportedly had blood on his face, torso, pants and shoes. Officers arrested Sherman, took the boy from the apartment and recovered a knife near Simpson’s body.

While officers were driving Sherman to the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center, he broke out of the back window of the vehicle. Sherman told law enforcement officials that he was on drugs, so he was taken to the hospital where he made statements about “hitting the dog” and “punching her head off,” the complaint states.

Later, while speaking with investigators, Sherman said he was at Simpson’s apartment with her and his nephew at the time of the murder. Sherman said “his nephew became possessed as a dog and told [him] that Simpson was really a guy,” and that Simpson grabbed a knife after the two began arguing, court documents state.

Sherman then said that Simpson came at him with the knife, so he punched her head against the cast iron radiator eight times. Sherman added that he then blacked out and didn’t remember stabbing Simpson.

Sherman told law enforcement officials he was not taking any drugs, although he had been prescribed medication but he “does not need them because he is not crazy,” the complaint states.

Simpson’s cause of death was determined to be multiple traumatic injuries to the face, neck and extremities.