Drunk Driver Convicted of Murder in Fatal Wreck

A 49-year-old Quartz Hill man with six drunk driving convictions under his belt was found guilty of murder Monday for drunkenly plowing his pickup truck into a compact car in Lancaster last October, killing an elementary school teacher.

Joel Charles Kyne’s alcohol level was .35%, more than four times the legal limit, when he killed 27-year-old Erica Nemback, the daughter of a California Highway Patrol sergeant. He faces a sentence of 15 years to life.

“It’s been tough on us emotionally,” Mike Nemback, the victim’s father, said after the verdict was read. “I’ve testified in cases like this and walked out of court and not known the pain of the family. I’d never been on this side of the fence.”

He said he’s glad at least that the conviction will finally take Kyne off the street because “he would have done this again, I’m sure.” Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher Estes said his office sought murder charges against Kyne because of his record of drunk driving.

“He knew that driving under the influence is dangerous and despite that knowledge, he made the decision to do it anyway,” Estes said.

Kyne’s lawyer, Ara Injejikian, could not be reached for comment.

Between 1980 and 1987, Kyne was convicted six times of drunk driving, Estes said. In one incident in 1985, Kyne’s blood alcohol level was recorded at .28%

Kyne was sentenced to jail in four out of the six cases according to a 10-foot-long printout of his driving record with the Department of Motor Vehicles, Estes said.

But it is unclear whether he actually served any jail time or whether the sentences were suspended because the court files have been destroyed.

However, Kyne did admit to a Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy that he eventually served two years in the county jail for violating his probation on drunk-driving cases, according to Estes.

Estes said Kyne was arrested again in 1995 for drunk driving, but that charge was reduced to speeding when his blood alcohol level was determined to be .07%, a hair below the limit of .08%

“Apparently he did whatever DMV required to get his license back,” Estes said. “At the time that he killed Erica Nemback, he did have a valid license.”

On Oct. 18, Kyne visited the same Antelope Valley bar three times between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. He drank Bloody Marys and beers until 6, when a barmaid at the Del Sur bar cut him off.

“His response to being cut off was: ‘I’m not driving. I’m not drunk,’ ” Estes said. Kyne kept insisting, and becoming “loud and obnoxious.”

Two hours later, he ran through a stop sign on Avenue J and 60th Street West at about 50 mph, slamming his Toyota pickup truck into the driver’s side of Nemback’s Honda Accord.

Empty beer cans littered the cab and bed of his truck and spilled into the street, Estes said. A cooler sat next to him in the truck.

While most people would pass out or get sick before the alcohol in their blood reaches .30%, Estes said experienced drinkers develop a higher tolerance.

Kyne was hospitalized for injuries suffered in the accident.

Nemback, a fourth-grade teacher at Cottonwood Elementary School, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A jury of five men and seven women deliberated for less than two days before finding Kyne guilty of second-degree murder and drunk driving charges.

Nemback’s relatives filled the front row of the audience when the verdict was read Monday afternoon. “I don’t expect that this verdict will ease your pain,” Van Nuys Superior Court Commissioner Michael Duffey said to the family in open court afterward, “but I hope it will bring you some measure of closure.”

Sentencing is set for May 26.