IRVINE : Man Gets 16 Months for Killing Another

A 20-year-old Irvine man who had pleaded guilty to killing a man on the roadways was ordered Monday to serve 16 months in state prison.

“I’m grateful that he got prison time, but I think it should have been more,” said 59-year-old Ruth Abel of Woodland Hills, the widow of the victim.

“It’s an insult to my husband’s memory,” she said. “It sends the wrong message to people, that you can act irresponsibly and not really have to pay for it. The whole thing is just such a terrible waste.”

Michael Schuler pleaded guilty to drunken vehicular manslaughter in a Sept. 13, 1989, crash on Culver Drive in Irvine that killed Alan Abel, a 65-year-old management consultant.

As a result of the guilty plea, Schuler could have gone to prison for as long as four years or received only probation.

Schuler had two misdemeanor convictions before the fatal crash, one for assault and battery, the other for possessing alcohol as a minor, authorities said.

And just a few weeks after his July guilty plea to manslaughter, he was arrested and later convicted of petty theft for trying to take beer from a grocery store. He also has been stopped several times for driving with a suspended license, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Dunn.

Dunn said Schuler should be in state prison. “This is a kid who’s already fallen out of two drug programs and has shown no desire to help himself,” he said.

Public defender Ronald Klar agreed that Schuler’s drinking problem was “the most severe I’ve seen in a long time.”

“But he’s so young . . . ,” Klar said. “The serious drug and alcohol problems we have in our society take time to mend. We give athletes and public figures second chances--even third and fourth--and this kid should be treated no differently.”