According to the Los Angeles Times, Martin Burt Kuehl, 42, a motorist from Costa Mesa, was ordered to stand trial for vehicle manslaughter with gross negligence after he allegedly killed a pedestrian minutes after he was texting on his cellphone in the car. If convicted of manslaughter, he faces up to nine years in prison.
The pedestrian, Martha Ovalle, a Guatemalan immigrant working as a nanny in Newport Beach was struck at about 8:30 a.m. on Westcliff Drive near Dover Drive in Newport Beach. The accident occurred on August 29, 2008.
Kuehl’s attorney argues that there is no evidence he was texting at the time of the crash. An Orange County judge rejected a defense request to reduce charges to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter with ordinary negligence. While prosecutors acknowledge that they have no company records to prove that he was texting at the moment of impact, they said that Kuehl’s use of the phone and other factors suggest he was acting negligently and didn’t see the pedestrian.
The state outlawed texting while driving last year and since then there has been a growing national debate. According to the Deputy District Attorney, phone records showed Kuehl text messaging for about 30 minutes before his car struck Ovalle. She was crossing the street at a marked crosswalk. Kuehl stated to police that the sun was in his eyes.
According to one witness’s account to police, a driver behind Kuehl had to honk to get him to notice the green light. Kuehl’s phone was found open following the accident.
