Youngblood to Run Against Sheriff Gates

Bobby D. Youngblood, a Municipal Court judge who has been a highly vocal critic of Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates, announced Thursday that he will take a leave of absence next February to run against Gates in the 1986 sheriff-coroner election.

Youngblood, 47, has a lawsuit pending against Gates that claims the sheriff has used his office to harass political opponents. Youngblood also instigated an FBI investigation into Gates’ operation of the Orange County Jail two years ago.

Gates was cleared of any wrongdoing, but Youngblood has continued to publicly criticize Gates as being responsible for a high number of deaths at the jail--19 in a 2-year period in 1982-1983--and for failing to take actions to reduce overcrowding at the jail before a federal judge stepped in five months ago and appointed a special master to monitor jail conditions.

Two New Accusations

At a gathering in Santa Ana on Thursday to announce his candidacy, Youngblood made two new accusations concerning Gates.

He said the sheriff failed to properly investigate the death of forensic pathologist Walter Fischer, who was found shot to death from self-inflicted wounds on July 9.

He also claimed that Gates has ties to Anaheim fireworks magnate W. Patrick Moriarty, who has pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud in connection with a major investigation into California political corruption.

Youngblood claimed that Fischer’s death is “highly suspicious” and added that his death came “in the wake of the revelations of a sweetheart contract he and others had with Brad Gates.”

Had Been Criticized

Fischer was in a partnership with two other forensic pathologists, Dr. Richard Fukumoto and Dr. Robert Richards. The three were under contract with the county to perform autopsies for the county coroner’s office.

Fischer and his partners had been accused in some quarters of doing sloppy work that had led to difficulty in the prosecution of some cases. The doctors were staunchly defended following those attacks, however, by prosecutors who make up the homicide panel in the district attorney’s office.

Fischer was found shot twice in the chest. Chief Deputy Coroner James Beisner ruled the death a suicide, and other sources in the coroner’s office said it was not unusual for suicide victims to pull the trigger twice in shooting themselves.

But Youngblood said Thursday that even if Fischer’s death was a suicide, “the point is that not one official has even questioned the Fischer death. Gates says it is suicide so that is pretty much that. Has Gates’ power become so great, so awesome, so absolute that even the highly suspicious death of a medical doctor is not even questioned?”

Youngblood said that he has knowledge of Moriarty having connections with Gates, but that he could not go into details because of court gag orders. But, he added while talking about Moriarty and Gates, “as this campaign progresses, I will . . . reveal an incestuous web of political corruption, bribery, prostitution and manipulation that is as insidious as it is frightening.”

Youngblood said in an interview that he is aware that his own past will become a part of the campaign. Two years ago, Youngblood became the first judge in Orange County to ever be “severely censured” by the state Supreme Court following an incident in which he jailed a 67-year-old doctor who had criticized one of his rulings.

Youngblood has also gone through bankruptcy proceedings since he became a judge in 1981 and was the target of an Orange County district attorney bribery investigation, even though the Orange County Grand Jury found insufficient evidence to indict him.

Gates has so far refused to comment about Youngblood’s decision to run against him, but sources close to the sheriff say he does not view Youngblood as a serious candidate. Gates has been elected sheriff-coroner three times. In the last two elections he did not have serious opposition.