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Drunken driver gets 15 years to life for crashing into home and killing sleeping man

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A drunken driver who crashed into a Mission Viejo residence and killed a man sleeping inside was sentenced Friday to 15 years to life in state prison.

A jury last year found Kourosh Keshmiri, 30, of Mission Viejo, guilty of one felony count of second-degree murder for the 2013 crash that killed 60-year-old Kenneth Jackson.

Prosecutors said it was around 3 a.m. on Dec. 29 when an intoxicated Keshmiri sped through the residential neighborhood at more than 80 mph. He lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the front bedroom of a home in the 26000 block of Pacato Drive where Jackson was asleep in his bed.

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Keshmiri suffered minor injuries, as did a passenger in his car, authorities said at the time. The neighborhood had a 25-mph speed limit.

Authorities said Keshmiri should not have been on the road at all that morning. He had a prior misdemeanor DUI conviction in August 2010 and a pending case from June 2013, six months before the crash that killed Jackson, according to court records. His driver’s license had been suspended as a result of the June incident.

Keshmiri also pleaded guilty Friday to one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of alcohol with a prior conviction and one misdemeanor count of driving with a blood alcohol content of .08% or higher with a prior conviction. An Orange County Superior Court judge sentenced him to six months in jail for those offenses, court records show.

When Keshmiri was convicted of DUI in 2010, he was advised that he could be charged with murder if anyone died as a result of his driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs in the future, according to a statement from the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Mark Martinez, Jackson’s longtime friend, spoke during the sentencing about the many miles the two rode motorcycles together and the memories they made along the way.

“Every time I fire up my Harley, he will always be with me,” Martinez said.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

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