Book thrown at DUI driver

When Lisa Bertaina saw the man who killed the love of her life sentenced to 15 years to life in prison Friday, it didn’t give her closure.

“What it brings me is comfort that he won’t be able to do this to other families,” she said outside the courtroom, face flushed from pouring her heart out to Judge Frank Fasel minutes earlier.

Luis Adan Ramirez, 34, of Santa Ana, was given the maximum sentence available for killing Corona del Mar resident Timothy Lysgaard, 45, in a drunk driving crash on Ortega Highway in 2006.

“The impact of this crime has been devastating to the family,” said Lysgaard’s stepfather, Paul Merget. Lysgaard’s mother died almost a year to the day after her son’s death.

“My life without my stepson, and my wife is a total ruin,” he said, voice cracking. “I have such deep feelings of emptiness, words cannot describe.”

Bertaina’s father couldn’t bear to see her in so much pain, she said. He died nine months after the crash. Bertaina and Lysgaard had been together for nearly six years and had talked of living in New York and Paris.

“I never thought I’d meet someone so comfortable to be around and so easy to love,” Bertaina told the judge. “My life ended 565 days ago on Nov. 5, 2006 with that knock on the door. My life went from love and happiness to emptiness and devastation.”

Bertaina urged the judge to sentence Ramirez to the maximum sentence.

“This was not an accident. Tim’s life was taken by a deliberate act that deserves no forgiveness,” she said.

Ramirez sat with his head down, shackled in an Orange County Jail jumpsuit.

“To the family, please forgive me. I will carry this with me all my life. Please forgive me, please forgive me,” Ramirez said through an interpreter. There was no one in the courtroom to speak on his behalf.

On Nov. 5, 2006, Ramirez had been drinking with a friend.

With a blood-alcohol level of .23, almost three times the legal limit, Ramirez got behind the wheel and drove down Ortega Highway with his friend and his friend’s 10-year-old daughter in the car. Ramirez lost control of the car and swerved onto the right shoulder, then back across into oncoming traffic.

He slammed head-on into Lysgaard, who was taking his motorcycle for a Sunday ride. Lysgaard was killed instantly, and the car tumbled 150 feet down an embankment.

Witnesses said they saw Ramirez throwing beer cans from the car before running away, leaving his friend and the daughter behind, prosecutors said.

He was captured by witnesses nearly a mile down the road while he tried to hitchhike in blood-stained clothes, according to prosecutors.

He was convicted of second-degree murder, child abuse and endangerment and hit and run with death. It was Ramirez’s third DUI.

The previous convictions were what Fasel said made him opt for a life sentence rather than a more lenient punishment.

“You never learned that lesson. And because of that, someone lost their life,” he said. “And, essentially, you’ve lost yours.”

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].