Stunned by sentence

Red-faced, watery-eyed and trembling, Costa Mesa native Martin Burt Kuehl rubbed his eyes and face in seeming disbelief.

After working hard to straighten out his life, he was staring at another prison sentence — this time for killing somebody in a road accident.

“I came so far with myself in the last year and a half. I would ask you don’t send me to prison,” Kuehl cried out to Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Hayes, as he sobbed. “I’ll do whatever you ask me to do!”

Kuehl, 42, was sentenced to four years in prison and broke down at the defendant’s table, burying his head in his arms. He was convicted in January of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

On Aug. 29, 2008, Kuehl was driving west on Westcliff Drive in Newport Beach when he fatally struck Martha Ovalle, 32, as she crossed the street in a crosswalk. Ovalle, a nanny, was on her way to work.

The victim was an immigrant from Guatemala who sent a portion of her earnings back home, her roommate said in court.

“There’s not a day that goes by, that passes that I don’t think of the consequences I’ve caused by this horrible accident,” Kuehl said. “She was a precious life. This haunts me every single second of the day.”

It was the fifth felony conviction for Kuehl, who’s served prison time for theft-related crimes in the past. His most recent crime was five years ago.

“I promised myself I’d never go to prison again,” Kuehl said, crying. “Prison is nothing but hate and violence, and that’s not me.”

Kuehl’s grandfather, Calvin Seacrest, told the judge that Kuehl’s crime was behind him.

“Martin was in the process of getting his life straightened around the day this happened,” Seacrest said. “He was really getting his life back together ... it’s a shame.”

Kuehl was convicted of gross negligence because in the moments leading up to the crash, witnesses testified to seeing his car drift into another lane and fail to move on a green light, jurors said in January. Prosecutors pointed to phone records showing that Kuehl had been texting in the minutes before the crash.

A driver behind Kuehl testified that Kuehl did not brake or swerve before hitting Ovalle, who flew down the road from the impact and died at the scene.

Kuehl reiterated that some kind of glare blinded him to Ovalle. Deputy Dist. Atty. Jason Baez emphasized to the judge that Kuehl had a full five seconds to see Ovalle before hitting her, but did not even brake.

“That’s what I’m saying! I didn’t even see her,” a sobbing Kuehl interrupted. “I’m sorry.”

Kuehl, who has been in jail for nearly a year, was given credit for time in custody. If he maintains good behavior in prison, he could be released in a little more than six months.