Case involving death of deputy could be delayed by infighting within prosecutor's office, accusations of lying
| Monday, Oct 26 2009 06:31 PM
Last Updated Monday, Oct 26 2009 08:24 PM
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A nearly three-year-old case on the fatal crash that killed a Kern County sheriff's deputy may suffer yet another major delay amid startling new allegations of infighting between the Kern County District Attorney's office and its crime lab.
At the heart of the dispute is the revelation more than a year ago that a blood sample taken from the defendant has been destroyed by the crime lab.
And not only is one side of the DA's office accusing another side of lying, but the crime lab may also find itself trying to defend a private lab that it disagrees with.
"What a conflict," defense attorney Fred Gagliardini said in his motion to delay the case against Daniel Patrick Willsey for 90 days.
Gagliardini said Monday he may ask for the district attorney's staff to remove itself from prosecuting the case and turn it over to the state Attorney General's office.
Here's what's behind the explosive defense motion that Gagliardini said is supported by documents from the district attorney's office itself.
A lab toxicologist said both a prosecutor and a district attorney investigator are lying when they claim they told the toxicologist to keep the blood sample of the defendant in this "high profile" case.
Prosecutor Melissa Allen declined to talk about the lying or conflict of interest allegations in the defense motion. She said she will address such issues in her written response.
The hoopla centers around the death of Deputy Joe Hudnall who was killed in a wreck on Nov. 14, 2006. He was transporting an 18-year-old female inmate from Lake Isabella to Bakersfield. Neither were wearing seat belts.
Willsey, 49, was passing a vehicle in the Kern River canyon, struck Hudnall's patrol car head on, and sent it over a cliff. Hudnall died after hitting a rock. The female was seriously injured.
Willsey, a Southern California attorney, had some methamphetamine in his car and tests showed he was under the influence of the drug, according to investigation reports.
Those tests have been embroiled in controversy.
A blood sample taken by law enforcement and analyzed by the Kern County Crime Lab showed he was under the influence of the drug. But a second sample, taken a short time after the first at Kern Medical Center and analyzed by a private lab in Visalia came up with different results. It showed a methamphetamine level of twice that of the other sample.
Gagliardini said there is a dispute on whether the lower level is under the influence. But he said the prosecutor has said she intends to use the results from the private lab, which indicate Willsey was clearly under the influence.
The problem is the county-run crime lab has defended how it analyzes such samples, arguing it does it the right way.
But if the crime lab does it right, how can the DA's office defend the private lab which came up with a vastly different results, he asked.
No blood sample from Willsey remains for further testing.
The county-run crime lab destroyed the blood sample it had from Willsey in December 2007. It was part of a destruction of evidence in old cases.
During one court hearing about this revelation, Judge Gary T. Friedman asked, "Why would they destroy a sample of blood on a person that's charged with a crime before the charges have been resolved one way or another?"
Gagliardini said the judge is absolutely right on with that question.
His motion says the first prosecutor on the case, Robert Murray, and the key investigator, Trent Sproles, say they told crime lab toxicologist Ron Bailey to preserve Willsey's blood sample.
Bailey said neither Murray nor Sproles told him to do that.
When asked at a high level meeting two weeks ago "Do you think Trent lied about that," Bailey replied, "Yes I do." Bailey also said Murray never directed him to save the evidence.
That meeting included District Attorney Ed Jagels, Chief District Attorney Lisa Green and Forensics Chief Vernon Kyle.
Gagliardini and other defense attorneys have said the crime lab should be independent of the DA's office because of issues like this. Prosecutors have defended the quality of the crime lab's work.
While Willsey's trial was scheduled to begin Monday, Gagliardini instead asked the judge for a delay.
Gagliardini said it appears the crime lab will have to provide 6,000 pages of information to answer the questions he posed in his motion. He wants 90 days to review the documents and have his experts analyze the information.
That request will be discussed again on Wednesday after Allen, files her response. Allen said she will oppose any long delay.
"This case is three years old," she said. "It's time to try the case."
