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"Man gets 18 months in prison for Back Bay crash that killed couple" by Peter Schworm and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff January 03, 2015
Mohamed Alfageeh, 30, of Allston, the driver who killed Jessica Campbell, 27, and her boyfriend, John Lanzillotti Jr., 28, was sentenced to 18 months behind bars and three years of probation for crashing into the Brookline couple in June as they crossed Beacon Street hand in hand during a walk.
Prosecutors said Alfageeh ran through a traffic light at the intersection of Beacon and Fairfield streets seven seconds after it had turned red, smashing into a sedan and then spinning into the crosswalk.
Alfageeh, a native of Yemen who moved to the United States in 2000, said through an Arabic interpreter that he accepted responsibility for the fatal crash, and wished to waive his right to a trial.
If found guilty, he could have received a maximum sentence of five years.
His lawyer, John Seed, said Alfageeh never had any intention of contesting the charges, and did not want to put the two families through the burden of a trial.
“Certainly it was a horrendous accident,” Seed said. “He has expressed his sorrow to me on multiple occasions.”
Alfageeh, a US citizen, has a wife and four children, Seed said. He is the part owner of a convenience store.
He had no previous criminal or driving violation record, he said. He does not drink and was sober at the time of the accident.
Outside the courtroom, Seed said Alfageeh was broken up over the couple’s deaths.
“His heart goes out to the families,” he said. “He has to live with this, and will for the rest of his life.”
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Superior Court Judge Carol Ball, while considering an appropriate sentence, also received heartwrenching letters from Alfageeh’s loved ones that expressed his remorse.
Ball said she was mindful that “we are dealing with criminal negligence, not intentional wrongdoing,” and that Alfageeh by all accounts was a “kind man who had been generous to his neighbors and acquaintances.”
“Although the sentence may not fully meet the hopes of the victims’ loved ones, or seem fair to those who seek the defendant’s freedom, it is, in my view, the most appropriate and just result,” she wrote.
Campbell worked as a senior analyst for Kantar Retail. Lanzillotti was an Emmy-winning production manager for the Boston Red Sox.
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Just be careful of where you walk.
Lanzillotti’s mother, Patricia, said she believed the crash could have been prevented, and that Campbell and her son “lived far too short of a life.”
“The grieving process is just very, very hard for all of us to deal with,’’ she said in court. “They were in love, and they complemented each other so well.’’
She recalled meeting them for lunch in Boston just a few days before they died, and how her son told her he loved her. On the night of the crash, she went to bed thinking what a lovely evening it had been.
A few hours later, two police officers showed up at her door. A few days later, she met Campbell’s parents for the first time.
“I’ll never have what I want, which is for my son to walk through the door,” she said.
Campbell’s mother said Jessica was her first child and was conceived after a decade of trying to become pregnant. She was a happy child, she said, who grew up to be a beautiful young woman. She liked to think she had the best qualities of both her parents.
Campbell had traveled some in college, and spent time in Europe. But her life was really just beginning.
“I don’t have the words to tell you how shattered we are,’’ she said.
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