Newport man gets house arrest in fatal DUI
A Newport Beach man convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter in a crash that killed one person and injured three others near Hearst Castle can serve his year-long sentence under house arrest, his attorney said Thursday.
Kurt Naegele pleaded no contest May 8 to charges of gross vehicular manslaughter, drunk driving and causing bodily injury in connection with the 2009 incident, according to San Luis Obispo Superior Court spokeswoman Jan Michael.
A Range Rover he was allegedly driving careened off an airstrip and flipped, killing one person in the Hearst Ranch area near San Simeon.
On July 6 he was sentenced to one year in jail with no credit for time served, and four years of formal probation. He was also ordered to return to court Oct. 12 for a hearing on fines and restitution, Michael said.
Naegele’s attorney, Mark Geragos, said his client is able to serve the jail time under house arrest.
A mistrial was previously declared after his defense attorney called an expert witness without proper notification, according to reports from the time. The witness said Naegele was not the driver in the fatal crash.
In November, Naegele filed a lawsuit against another person in the vehicle, saying he wasn’t behind the wheel at the time of the accident, but that another man, Ryan Doheny, was.
Darren Dahlman of Pasadena died after the SUV with four passengers crashed. The other three were seriously injured and taken to a local hospital.
Dahlman was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident.
Twitter: @lawilliams30