Niagara Falls resident Abouycea D. Thornton, 32, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend.
On the night of September 17, 2022, around 11:30 p.m., Buffalo Police responded to a violent altercation on Berkshire Avenue, near Bailey Avenue. Thornton attacked his ex-girlfriend and fatally beat her boyfriend, 29-year-old Nickolas A. Grazes, Sr., with a metal pipe. The ex-girlfriend sustained arm injuries and was treated and released from the hospital.
Thornton pleaded guilty to Murder in the Second Degree, a Class “A-I” felony, on November 27, 2023. This morning, State Supreme Court Justice Deborah A. Haendiges handed down the 20 years to life sentence.
Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane praised the Buffalo Police Department Homicide Squad for their diligent work on the case. The prosecution team, led by Chief Gary W. Hackbush of the Homicide Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Rachel M. Vicario of the Special Victims/Domestic Violence Bureau, successfully secured the conviction.
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