Orange County motorist accused of texting while driving faces trial for killing pedestrian

A Costa Mesa motorist was ordered to stand trial for allegedly killing a pedestrian minutes after he was texting on his cellphone in the car.

An Orange County judge on Monday rejected a defense request to reduce the charges. The man's attorney argued that there is no evidence he was texting at the time of the crash, but prosecutors say his use of the phone and other factors suggest he was acting negligently and didn't see the pedestrian.

The trial comes amid a growing national debate about the texting while driving, which the state outlawed last year. If convicted of vehicular manslaughter, he faces up to nine years in prison.

According to the Daily Pilot, Martin Burt Kuehl, 42, is charged with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, although prosecutors acknowledge that they have no phone company records to prove that he was texting at the moment of impact.

Martha Ovalle, a Guatemalan immigrant working in Newport Beach as a nanny, died in the Aug. 29, 2008, accident. It took place about 8:30 a.m on Westcliff Drive near Dover Drive in Newport Beach.

More from on the case from the Pilot:

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jason Baez said phone records showed Kuehl text messaging for about 30 minutes before his car struck Ovalle, as she crossed the street in a marked crosswalk.

One witness told police that, just before the collision, the driver behind Kuehl at the intersection had to honk to get him to notice that the light was green, Baez said.

“I’m not saying that I can prove or have to prove that he was texting when he hit the victim,” Baez said. “There’s definitely a bunch of inferences that he wasn’t looking. His phone was found open and [next to] the driver’s seat ... gross negligence is a state of mind. Texting is just one of the things he did wrong here.

“He had put the public at risk long before he ran this person over. The continuing inattention is why this is different than someone looking down for a second or two.”

Kuehl’s attorney, deputy public defender Adam Vining, was looking for Orange County Superior Court Commissioner James Odriozola to reduce the felony vehicular manslaughter charge to a misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter with ordinary negligence case.

“The judge specifically found that there is no evidence that Mr. Kuehl was text messaging that [morning],” Vining said. “He stated to police that the sun was in his eyes.”

-- Shelby Grad

Comments

[baronpilot]

I applaud the Deputy District Attorney Jason Baez and the judge in this case.

Pedestrians and bicyclists are at risk whenever drivers are distracted by cell phones and especially texting while driving.

There is no excuse for the gross negligence of Martin Kuehl.

[Tony]

Texting while driving? No excuses. Throw the book at him. People with so little regard for everyone else around them need to be amongst those with similar values, criminals in prison.

[Julian B Duron]

As he should be, my community of South Gate lost a young boy last month Ricardo Mercado under same circumstances. The Law is not being enforced Cell/Phone/Texting this is impaired driving. They should be treated worse than drunk drivers. Law enforcement just to step up and enforce the law already on books. If citation is not high enough to recover costs of Police Officers time. I would be in favor of double or tripling the cost of the Citation. This practice has to stop or more lives will be lost.
My American Legion Post #335 of South Gate, did a fundraiser for the Mercado family. To help our member of the South Gate Community.

[Caleb]

From the article, He had a green light right before the accident - so the pedestrian was breaking the law. The driver behind him had to honk (creating a distraction and bullying the driver into moving forward). A Judge states there is no evidence the driver was texting immediately prior to the accident, but the prosecution (as usual) continues to make reference to texting as a contributing factor, illegally attempting to introduce theory as evidence. Remember, if you are ever on a jury, cops can lie, prosecutors always lie, and the defense is seldom given proper access to excuplatory information.

[jw stephens]

"The sun was in my eyes" should not be a get-off-free card, although it dismisses intent, and thus, crime. However, his lack of attention to his driving should disqualify him from a driving license for a term. Let him be the butterfly instead of the windshield for, say, 20 years. The day that states move to remove poor drivers from the road ... that'll be the day.

[Lorna]

I hope he's prosecuted. I don't understand why the fine given to people who don't use a headset or text is so miniscule when it's so dangerous. Too many morons on the road think they can multitask while driving and putting people's lives at risk!

[LAMom]

Kiss your money goodbye Mr. Kuehl!!! The Attorneys are going to EAT you alive. The sun defense?? Really?? that is all you got?

[Lei Cha]

Texting is one of the best things to come out and yet it is THE WORST THING to come out. Everyday I see people walking where I work which is in a busy retail center. They are walking and texting and never even looking up. Some people come so close to getting hit by a car and they are not phased.

I think this man must definatley pay for taking someone's life. Other texters need to understand the importance of not letting texting take over your life.

[Mr.G...]

That law is useless as far as what I see while on the road... People blatantly talking on the phone and texting while driving...
I also see police officers talking on the phone while driving, I thought they had radios in the car to call dispatch.Unless the Department starting issuing blackberrys.
Must be nice...

[Cassandra H]

The prosecutor admits he has no evidence of texting. His "proof " is a open phone. This should be a slam dunk for the defense. This case is more about strutting around the hen house for the prosecution.

[Scott M]

Why is there ANY kind of debate (national or otherwise) regarding texting while driving?!

[Jim Q. Citizen]

Got a question. While this idiot faces up to nine years in prison for texting while driving and killing someone; why is it that the drunk illegal alien that killed movie director Bob Clark and his 20 year old son only get three years in jail? Oh wait a minute I see, the texting idiot is a U.S. citizen and his victim is an illegal alien! Makes sense to me now!

[J. Klein]

An attorney convinced a jury using the "sun in my eyes" defense that his client should not be found guilty for hitting my 70 year old grandmother in the middle of a cross walk. My grandmother was never the same. I'm sure the attorney and the driver probably had a swell life.

Why can't we put our phones down while driving and pay attention! Even the sun is no excuse for running people over.

[Electric Grandma]

I'm in agreement with another of the posters here regarding the fines for not using a headset/hands free. The fines should be prohibitive. Like upwards of 500 dollars for the first offense. No one takes these laws seriously, as evidenced in this particular tragedy.

I can't tell you how often I see drivers distracted by phone use while driving. If I were the queen of America, you wouldn't be allowed to use the phone at all while driving. It's far too distracting. And we are a society that suffers from A.D.D.

If the penalty for using a phone while driving were much higher, instead of just being another revenue generator like parking tickets, people might pay attention and get with the safety aspects of this important and life threatening issue.

Oh and if I were queen of America, ANY public transportation driver using a cell phone while engaged in the transport of human life, does prison time with fines... to start. Let us not forget the Metrolink disaster....

[Krystal Kid]

80% percent of all rear end collisions (the most frequent vehicle accident) are caused by driver inattention, following too closely, external distraction (talking on cell phones, shaving, applying makeup, fiddling with the radio or CD player, kids, texting, etc.) and poor judgement.

I doubt if we'll be able to stop the nonsense so I went out and bought one of these sparebumper.com

[Mark]

When your'e driving, you need to be fully aware of what's in front of you. If the guy was using his cell phone to text or call someone then he needs to be man enough to own up to his mistake and take his consequences for his actions which was taking the life of another human being. This driver in his own mind and heart knows what the truth really is regaring his poor judgement.

[Pau Sumner]

Lock him up and I hope family of decease sue for every penny ...... I personally see people car crossing to 2 to 3 while texting and luckily no one was drive next to her.

[danceralamode]

I don't own a car. I am a bicycle and public transit commuter. About 6 months ago, a friend and I were in her car; she was driving. Or she was texting and talking on the phone and doing her hair and makeup, and sort-of driving, with me in the passenger seat. I politely asked her to stop texting and talking on the phone because it made me uncomfortable. I had previously been in a serious car accident (not due to texting or anything) in which my car was totaled, and her inattention to her driving (she was swerving in and out of traffic and driving far to fast) was seriously giving me a bad case of PTSD. Can you believe what her response to me was? She said, "oh, I don't care, it's only a $35 fine, whatever." I tried to explain to her my POV, as a cyclist and pedestrian, that I've almost been hit a number of times by drivers who thought they could do all this stuff and drive at the same time.

She BLATANTLY ignored me, refused to get off her phone, and argued with me that she's perfectly safe. I was infuriated. I can't count how many times I've come within an inch of my life because a driver wasn't paying full attention to the road. I appreciate that pedestrians often jump into the road without looking both ways, and that cyclists often break the rules of the road too, but this case is about a driver who was being negligent. He doesn't get off the hook because people want to change the subject or blame other people. Change the subject like saying, "oh, the pedestrian should've seen him" or something like that.

This case makes me sick, and, while it was obviously an accident, it was an accident caused by gross and calculated negligence. Therefore, he should get jail time, but maybe not more than a year, and have massive community service, AND NEVER BE ABLE TO DRIVE AGAIN! This was an accident where someone died. He killed someone. He should never be able to be licensed in any state again.

[marcoman]

Caleb sounds like an ambulance chasing attorney.

[Stephen]

In The United States of America, the accused is innocent until proven guilty. In a case of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Too many here seem willing to convict the accused in the court of public opinion without giving him the opportunity to face his accusers and state his side of the case before a jury of his peers.

The immigration status of the driver and the victim is completely irrelevant to the case at hand. A tragedy has occurred: a human life has been lost, and another is at risk of incarceration.

[gershon silva]

I question one more time the value of texting for the public. As a phone user i don't know how to text anything. I don't need it, if I want to talk to my sixteen y/o I talk to her. Teens are known for putting us in an economical burden when We get the phone bill and see that We need to choose between paying the mortgage, insurance, groceries, etc. or pay for their irresponsible texting which brings nothing to our table. Thank god now the phone companies are giving us back our power ( for a fee of course!) by letting us block them from texting at all and not making phone calls or texting at 2:00 A.M. when they are suppoused to be sleeping. We parents had lost control over our teens.
"I SAY LEAVE TEXTING FOR OFICIAL USE ONLY", just like the police frequency is not open to the public. So Texting should be illegal and banned from the citizens use. It is nor a radical meassure is the medicine needed to eliminate unnecesary deaths, or accident. Texting sounds very much like the Huey Lewis song "I need a new drug".

[Dee]

Nine years for negligent driving is way too short.

Throw him in prison for twenty years, and make him break rocks in the sun.