No charges in fatal crash amid lack of evidence
BY JESSICA LOGAN, Californian staff writere-mail: jlogan@bakersfield.com
An attorney held in the death of a Kern County sheriff's deputy was set to be released from custody Tuesday after the Kern County District Attorney's office announced it did not have enough evidence to file charges against him.
Attorney Daniel Willsey was injured in a Nov. 14 crash on Highway 178 that killed Kern County sheriff's Deputy Joe Hudnall.
The California Highway Patrol arrested Willsey on suspicion of second-degree murder, believing he may have had illegal levels of drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of the crash.
But Kern County Assistant District Attorney Dan Sparks said the toxicology reports that would reveal these levels are not yet available, and he did not know when they would be.
Sparks said that when Willsey was injured, he was given medication.
But the prosecutor's office needs to know what, if anything, he had in his system at the time of the crash.
Since the Kern County District Attorney's office does not have enough evidence at this time to file any charges, Willsey will be released, Sparks said.
Willsey's attorney, Matthew Ruff, said he believes Willsey was held longer than he should have been.
Typically arrestees are kept in custody for 48 hours. If the Kern County district attorney does not file charges by then, the inmate must be released.
But the Kern County Sheriff's Department held Willsey in custody while he was in the hospital because he was not physically able to be arraigned.
A judge ruled the CHP had just cause to arrest Willsey and keep him until he was physically able to be arraigned.
Willsey was released from the hospital this weekend, meaning the Kern County Sheriff's Department could keep him in custody until Tuesday without arraigning him.
The Kern County District Attorney issued a news release just before the scheduled arraignment, saying charges would not be filed Tuesday.
Sparks said he couldn't answer whether charges would ever be filed.
Ruff said he hopes the prosecutor's office will consider charges based on the facts of the case, rather than heated community sentiment resulting from the death of a peace officer.
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