Woman, 81, gets a light sentence

When she was sentenced yesterday, Lillian Angelo could have received five years imprisonment for drunkenly plowing into Robert M. Ayoub's car two years ago, killing the 52-year-old Needham dentist.

But prosecutors, worried about the 81-year-old Chelsea woman's frail health, consulted the grieving Ayoub family. With the family's blessing, they offered a shorter- than-expected sentence: 30 days in prison.

The Memorial Day weekend crash on Revere Beach Boulevard two years ago devastated the Ayoubs, but prosecutors said the family agreed with a compassionate sentence for a fragile first-time offender.

"They were supportive of the resolution," said Jake Wark, spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney's office. "We had to balance an egregious fact pattern with the defendant's physical frailty. It was a decision made with the input of the victim's family and their agreement."

Angelo had pleaded guilty to two counts of motor vehicle homicide -- one for reckless driving and one for alcohol impairment. Each count carries a sentence of up to 2 1/2 years imprisonment.

Chelsea District Court Judge Diane Maldonado also sentenced Angelo to three years probation, with the first year to be served under house arrest.

Angelo has permanently surrendered her driver's license.

Ayoub's wife, Gretchen, said in a statement issued yesterday that her husband "was a gentle, cautious, extraordinarily loving, and kind man who was killed in such a violent manner.

"From our first date until when he died, Bob always thought of me before himself," she said.

Angelo's drunken slalom down curving Revere Beach Boulevard in her 1989 Cadillac DeVille around 4:30 p.m. on May 29, 2005, startled a nearby police officer. He observed her doing 90 miles per hour, three times the posted speed limit.

Angelo -- whose blood alcohol level was later measured at 0.12, well over the 0.8 limit -- swerved into opposing traffic, sideswiping at least six cars on the way.

Ayoub and his daughter Corinne, then 16, had just finished eating at Kelly's Roast Beef and were pulling out of a parking lot. Angelo slammed into their car and pushed it nearly 80 feet.

Ayoud died hours later of massive internal injuries, while his daughter was hospitalized in critical condition. She has recovered.

Angelo suffered breaks in her hips, legs, and face. She was arraigned five months later in her hospital bed at Chelsea Jewish Nursing Home.

With Angelo's sentencing yesterday, the case came to an end. Eight members of Ayoub's family submitted victim-impact statements prior to sentencing, remembering the man they lost.

"There is a huge hole in my life without dad," said Corinne Ayoub. "No more of his kindheartedness is here anymore, no more of his compassion and love for others before himself is here."

His son Mark recalled the 19 years they spent together, saying: "I was lucky enough for him to have imparted the wisdom that he did and stressed the values that he did, as it undoubtedly shaped me into the person who I am."