A career criminal with convictions dating back to the 1960s, including one for murder, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting death of Surendra Dangol, a Somerville man slain during the armed robbery of a Jamaica Plain convenience store, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

EDWARD CORLISS (D.O.B. 2/7/46) received the mandatory term for first-degree murder, the crime for which a Suffolk Superior Court jury convicted him Tuesday. First Assistant District Attorney Patrick Haggan recommended that it be ordered served from and after the life sentence Corliss is currently serving for a prior homicide; Judge Diane Kottmeyer denied that symbolic request.

In brief statements relayed to the court through an interpreter, Dangol’s brother, Birendra, and wife, Kalpana, expressed satisfaction with the verdict.

“I’m happy with the decision that was made,” the slain man’s brother said. “Because of this, people will be safe from another murder … We’re really devastated about what happened to my brother, but we’re really happy we got justice.”

Dangol’s widow was solemn and spoke only two sentences before leaving the witness stand in tears.
“I am happy I got justice,” she said. “I cannot say anything else.”

Dangol was a lawyer in his native Nepal and immigrated to America with the intention of bringing his wife and daughter here as well. Toward that end, he took a job at Tedeschi’s Food Shops, where he was working at a Jamaica Plain location on Dec. 26, 2009.

At about 3:00 that afternoon, the evidence proved, Corliss – who had lurked outside for about half an hour waiting for the store to be empty of customers – entered wearing a wig, hat, and scarf to disguide his features. He produced a .380 caliber handgun, pointed it Dangol, and demanded the clerk put all the money in a backpack he’d brought.

Video surveillance from the store showed Dangol obeying every order and placing his hands in the air when he finished. He offered no resistance, didn’t trip an alarm, and stood stock still as the assailant reclaimed his backpack.

Corliss shot him anyway.

Dangol died of a single gunshot wound to the chest a short time after he was transported to Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

In recommending “the absolute maximum sentence,” Haggan recounted Corliss’ criminal history, which began before Dangol – who died at 39 years old – was even born. Corliss had convictions in 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, and 1970. Several of those offenses were committed while on probation or parole from an earlier offense.

“The defendant … has managed to take advantage of the parole and furlough system to commit crimes in every decade since the 1960s,” Haggan said.

In 1971, after escaping from prison, Corliss committed his first murder – one with eerie similarities to Dangol’s homicide years later. This one also occurred during an armed robbery and also claimed the life of a shop clerk: Corliss shot George Oakes dead inside Dot’s Variety in Salisbury, fled in a vehicle, and later tossed the murder weapon in a quarry. He was found guilty of second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

Corliss was convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon five years into that sentence and escaped in 1980. When apprehended, he had in his possession a handgun, adding an additional two to four years to his sentence. Despite those offenses, Corliss was allowed furloughs of two to three days at a time in 1985. While working on one of those furloughs, he was arrested in connection with a bomb threat and explosion on the grounds of the hospital in which he was working.

Corliss was released again in 1991, this time on parole. Five months later, he was arrested for breaking into a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident. His parole was revoked and he was later disciplined for stealing a photograph of a correctional officer’s daughter and giving it to another inmate.

In 2006, with a litany of arrests, convictions, and violations of the conditions of his release from prison, he was once again set free by a Parole Board that has since been disbanded and reconstituted with all new members.

“Again and again and again, this defendant has proven himself dangerously violent and absolutely unrepentant,” Conley said. “He should never have been on the street. We take some satisfaction that he’s behind bars for good, but we know – as Surendra Dangol’s friends and family know – that it’s far too little, far too late.”

Assistant District Attorney Janis Noble of Conley’s Appeals Division second-seated Haggan at trial. Catherine Rodrigues was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Corliss was represented by attorney John Hayes.