Jury: He killed nanny

A Costa Mesa man is guilty of killing a local nanny with his car as she was crossing a Newport Beach street in 2008.

A jury of seven men and five women Wednesday found Martin Burt Kuehl, 42, guilty of vehicular manslaughter for fatally hitting 32-year-old Martha Ovalle in August 2008 as she crossed Westcliff Drive near Dover Drive.

He faces up to nine years in prison based on his conviction and prior criminal record, prosecutors said.

As the court clerk read the verdict, Kuehl became visibly emotional.

Breathing heavily and trembling, he first wiped tears from his eyes as each juror said “guilty” when polled by the judge. While the judge thanked the jurors for their service, Kuehl continued to tremble in his Orange County Jail jumpsuit, rubbing his reddened cheek with his left hand and staring blankly at the defendant’s table.

“I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t feel compassion for Mr. Kuehl,” juror No. 11 said.

“It could’ve happened to any of us,” said the lone alternate juror. “But that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be held responsible for his actions.”

Initially, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jason Baez focused his opening statements of the trial on phone records showing that Kuehl was text messaging in the half hour leading up to the accident. Kuehl hit Ovalle with his GMC Yukon at 8:31 a.m. Aug. 29, 2008, as she crossed in a designated crosswalk. Phone records showed he had sent a text message four minutes earlier.

Public defender Adam Vining argued there was no proof that Kuehl was using his phone at the time of the crash.

According to jurors who commented, and asked not to be named, Kuehl’s phone use wasn’t even a factor.

It took them a little more than three hours to find Kuehl guilty, and most of the debate surrounded how negligent Kuehl was in the crash.

“Take all of the texting out of it. There was inattention,” said juror No. 11. “Two other people saw [Ovalle], why couldn’t he?”

The driver behind Kuehl on the morning of the crash testified Kuehl didn’t move after a red light he was waiting at turned green and had to be honked at. Juror No. 9 said that driver, Kyle Chrystal, made the case.

Chrystal testified that after not moving on the green signal, Kuehl’s Yukon drifted from the far right lane into the left lane and headed straight into Ovalle, hitting her with its right front end.

The impact, estimated to be at 35 mph, sent Ovalle 72 feet down the street and into a gutter, where she was pronounced dead.

“His mind was occupied with something else,” juror No. 11 said. “There were several opportunities for him to pay attention and see her.”

Kuehl is scheduled to be sentenced March 12.