(CBS) PASADENA, Calif. A lawyer with a reportedly checkered past was arrested at his Pasadena home on murder charges, facing allegations he got high on methamphetamine and crashed his vehicle into a Kern County Sheriff's vehicle, killing a deputy.
Daniel Patrick Willsley, 46, remains in a Bakersfield jail in lieu of $175,000 bail in connection with a Nov. 14 crash on State Route 178 in the winding Kern River Canyon, according to media reports.
Willsley was arrested at the scene and released several days later. He had methamphetamine in his system and a sawed-off shotgun in his car. Investigators said they needed more time to make a case. . . .
[W]illsley, whose practice was at 301 N. Lake Ave. in Pasadena, was admitted to the bar 1989 and was privately disciplined in 1998. He was placed on probation the following year, according to media reports. In 2000, he failed a professional responsibility exam and his license was suspended.
Unfortunately, the article quoted above includes several inaccuracies. For example, the lawyer's name is Daniel Patrick Willsey -- not Willsley. And his status with the State Bar is currently "active," so he is fully authorized to practice law in California, and has been since January 2001. Mr. Willsey is a graduate of UC Irvine and Pepperdine University School of Law.