East Sandwich Man Found Negligent In Fatal Crash

FALMOUTH, SANDWICH- Anthony J. Troiano, the East Sandwich man who was involved in the head-on collision that killed a Falmouth woman in 2007, was found guilty of motor vehicle homicide in Falmouth District Court Wednesday afternoon. The crash occurred near the John Gallo Ice Arena on Sandwich Road in Bourne, which runs parallel to the Cape Cod Canal.
The woman killed in the crash, Lilija N. Berents, who had lived on Kimberly Lane in Teaticket, was a pharmacy technician at Jordan Hospital in Plymouth at the time of the accident. After the bench trial, which began Monday, Judge Michael Creedon sentenced Mr. Troiano to two years’ probation and suspended his driver’s license. Mr. Troiano, whose defense centered on the medical condition of sleep apnea that he has been diagnosed with, agreed not to have a jury trial.
The judge had the discretion to sentence him to two and a half years in prison, but opted for probation only.
The family of Ms. Berents sat silently as Judge Creedon issued his decision. They left the courtroom immediately afterward and declined to comment on the verdict.
Mr. Troiano’s family wept at the news of the conviction, and Augustus F. Wagner Jr. of Nutter, McClennen and Fish, Mr. Troiano’s attorney, said that he was disappointed in the verdict.
Judge Creedon issued the verdict immediately after Assistant District Attorney Eileen Connors finished her closing statement, saying that the commonwealth had proven Mr. Troiano’s negligence with the very first witness of the trial.
The first witness was Jason Mooney, an eyewitness to the crash, who had testified that Mr. Troiano had passed his car on the road, but then failed to return to the proper lane, causing the head-on collision.
According to the judge, the state statute only required the District Attorney’s Office to prove negligence, and not recklessness.  
Judge Creedon said he was not comfortable with finding him guilty, but because of the state statute, he was required to do so.
During his closing statement Wednesday, Mr. Wagner said his client “was not criminally responsible, but will take this incident to his grave.”
The undisputed facts of the case are that Mr. Troiano, who was 51 at the time of the accident and who works as the town manager of Hopkinton, left a meeting in Hopkinton at around 10 PM on May 15, 2007. His route home took him over the Bourne Bridge and then north on Sandwich Road.  on Sandwich Road.
At 11:20 PM he passed Mr. Mooney’s car on Sandwich Road. Mr. Troiano signaled his intention to pass, turned off his signal as he was passing, but never merged back into north-bound lane, according to trial testimony.
As Mr. Troiano’s black Hyundai approached Ms. Berents’ car, she slowed and pulled over to the side of the road. Mr. Troiano never braked or swerved to avoid the collision, according to testimony.
After the collision, Ms. Berents was pronounced dead at Tobey Hospital. Mr. Troiano was taken to Rhode Island Hospital Trauma Center and was in a  medically induced coma for weeks.
Mr. Troiano testified on Monday that he remembered leaving the parking lot at Hopkinton Town Hall, and then, his next memory is immediately after the accident, the smell of the air before rain. That testimony was revisited on Wednesday by a psychiatrist testifying for the defense.
In closing statements and during the trial, Mr. Wagner focused on Mr. Troiano’s diagnosed condition of sleep apnea, a blockage of air while sleeping, that according to experts who testified at the trial could have caused Mr. Troiano to fall asleep at the wheel without any warning that night.
Mr. Wagner also pointed out that Mr. Troiano’s doctor had never issued a warning about the dangers of driving with his condition.
With a somber tone, Mr. Wagner offered his condolences to the victim’s family, and said, finally, “I know it’s a tough decision for the court.”
The closing statement of Ms. Connors, the assistant district attorney, touched on Mr. Troiano’s 14-hour work day on the day of the accident, and that his decision to pass on Sandwich Road demonstrated clear negligence.
She did not disparage Mr. Troiano’s character, saying, “Good people can be negligent, too.”
In his decision, Judge Creedon agreed that Ms. Connors had proved negligence, but mentioned his displeasure with the state statute before finding Mr. Troiano guilty.