Wife beaters, all of you!!!!!

[fishpoopoo]

April 10, 2007

Admitted killer says husband abused her
By HILARY RUSS
and SEAN GONSALVES
STAFF WRITERS

South Yarmouth internist Dr. Ann M. Gryboski appears in Barnstable District Court yesterday with her lawyer, Kevin Reddington. The bruises on her face are "part of the mitigating circumstances that we will be exploring," District Attorney Michael O'Keefe said.

BARNSTABLE - Her face bruised and cut from punches allegedly delivered by her husband, Dr. Ann Marie Gryboski pleaded not guilty to his murder in Barnstable District Court yesterday.

Her husband, Patrick Lancaster, 50, whom she told police she shot dead on Sunday, had abused her and their children physically and mentally ''for many years,” according to court documents.

In a videotaped interview with police, Gryboski, 51, a physician specializing in internal medicine in South Yarmouth, admitted that she shot Lancaster after an argument between him and one of the couple's two adult sons, according to court records.

She tried to intervene in the dispute, and Lancaster came at her. She fired two shots, hitting him in the midsection, court records said.

Yesterday's court proceedings followed what appeared to be a troubled, violent weekend for the couple.

On Saturday evening, Lancaster allegedly punched Gryboski in the face repeatedly as she drove a car with their 2-year-old grandson sitting in the back seat.

The next day, Easter Sunday, Gryboski called 911 at about half past noon and told police she needed them to come to the home ''as she had just killed her husband,” court documents revealed.

Inside the house, officers found Lancaster lying on the floor, face up, with two bullet holes in his torso.

A black pistol lay on a chair next to his body. A shell casing was on the dining room floor, and a live round of ammunition was on the living room floor.

Gryboski told responding officers, as well as investigators at the Barnstable Police Department later, that she shot her husband.

Violence in the household, she said, ''has been escalating,” court records indicated.

''Dr. Gryboski is a very sweet, gentle, kind woman who is just a fantastic person and a wonderful mother,” said her defense attorney, Kevin Reddington. ''She has endured some significant abuse, and the case has many mitigating factors.”

It's a case of ''pure and simple self-defense,” he said.

Gun license since 2000

Whether mitigating circumstances - the euphemism of the day - involved something beyond alleged domestic violence is still unclear.

''There are some mitigating factors surrounding this event,” Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe said in a press conference yesterday.

O'Keefe would not explain further, except to say that her facial injuries were ''part of the mitigating circumstances that we will be exploring.”

Gryboski has had a license to carry her gun since 2000, but O'Keefe said he did not know how long she possessed the gun she allegedly used to shoot her husband.

The history of disturbances in the family may stretch back years, though neighbors and people who knew the couple said there were no outward signs of abuse.

The Times could find no record of restraining orders against Lancaster. Public records searches conducted by court clerks in Falmouth and Barnstable district courts turned up no criminal records on Lancaster going back to 1996. In Orleans, no records were found dating back to 2000.

In the quiet, wooded residential neighborhood where the couple lived, neighbors said Gryboski and Lancaster seemed cordial and were often seen walking their two beagles.

One woman, who lives across the street from the couple's home, said she never suspected there were any domestic troubles in the home.

''The last snowstorm we had, he (Lancaster) came over and cleared out my driveway,” the woman said.

Another longtime neighbor said he ''was dumbfounded” when he saw all the cruisers and police tape.

''I would have never suspected Ann,” he said. None of the neighbors wanted their names used.

''Scared to death”

Several sources did tell the Times, however, that Lancaster had a temper.

''I think she was scared to death of him,” said Thomas Knapp of Centerville, who said he was once sued by Lancaster, with whom he used to be friendly and swap building jobs. ''The only way she was gonna escape him is to kill him.”

Lancaster was once a charter boat owner, builder and weekend fisherman. At the Barnstable marina, where he once kept his boat, several people said they knew who Lancaster was but hadn't seen him or his boat in the harbor for a year or two.

He was a certified merchant mariner while a temporary worker aboard the training ship Enterprise for Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay.

But his one stint aboard the ship in 2002 ended prematurely when he was fired, Adm. Richard G. Gurnon, academy president, confirmed yesterday.

''We did not retain him for the entire two months. His employment was terminated midway through the term,” Gurnon said, declining to specify why Lancaster had been dismissed.

Yesterday family members did not comment as they rushed past a throng of cameras and reporters. When Gryboski was released on $50,000 bail at 2 p.m., she was picked up by family in a minivan and had no comment.

Reddington and prosecutors agreed on the amount of bail. O'Keefe said it was sufficient to ensure she would appear at her next court date on May 8.