VENTURA : Teen-Ager Sentenced to 4 Years at CYA

A 16-year-old Ventura boy who struck and killed a woman with his car just seconds after he inhaled a drug was sentenced Friday to the California Youth Authority, where he may be incarcerated for up to four years.

The teen-ager, whose name is being withheld because of his age, was given the maximum possible sentence for his admission in Juvenile Court to a charge of vehicular manslaughter.

Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. told the youth, who has a long history of drug abuse, that he recognizes the boy finally is beginning to understand the consequences of his actions.

“But the cost of that is overwhelming,” Campbell said. “An innocent person is run down on the sidewalk in her neighborhood.”

Linda Gabrielson, 52, was killed Dec. 16 as she walked along Via Arroyo at Longridge Court. Deputy Dist. Atty. James D. Ellison said the defendant was driving more than 50 m.p.h. in the residential neighborhood when he inhaled gas used as a propellant for airbrushes.

The prosecutor said he believes the youth blacked out and lost control of his car.

Addressing the court prior to sentencing was Harry Gabrielson, widower of the victim. Speaking from a wheelchair, Gabrielson said his wife had cared for him since he became a paraplegic 16 years ago.

“The impossible has happened,” he said. “ . . . I wake up in the middle of the night and I can see the fear in her eyes, and the horror before impact.”

Defense attorney George Eskin urged Campbell not to send the boy to the CYA. Eskin said the teen-ager has spent the past nine months trying to straighten out his life.

But Campbell noted that all previous attempts to help the boy, including a two-month stay in a drug-rehabilitation center, had failed.