Young Seeking Plea-Bargain in Mail Fraud, Judge Reveals

Lawyers for former Assemblyman Bruce E. Young of Norwalk have been secretly attempting to negotiate a possible guilty plea to federal mail fraud charges prior to the start of Young’s upcoming public corruption trial, a Los Angeles federal judge disclosed Monday.

U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian made the disclosure during a pretrial hearing, which also revealed that federal prosecutors plan to attack Young’s credibility during his trial by charging that he “altered records” and “fabricated” a document in efforts to impede the three-year investigation that led to his indictment in August.

Young’s chief defense lawyer, George Walker, told Tevrizian that he still plans to proceed to trial next week with the case, in which Young is charged with 28 counts of mail fraud in connection with his financial dealings with a Los Angeles cable television firm and convicted political corrupter W. Patrick Moriarty.

‘See a Problem’

But Walker, who requested the hearing Monday, in part to discuss the admissibility of any testimony about altered records, conceded: “I do see a problem with this case, I’ll admit.”

Walker said a factor that “will weigh heavily” in plea-bargain considerations is whether Tevrizian will permit the government to introduce testimony against Young that he doctored records submitted to government investigators, a previously undisclosed part of the government case against the former legislator.

He requested that Tevrizian hear the evidence relating to altered records at a closed hearing, and also asked the judge at one point during Monday’s hearing if he could speak privately with him in chambers about the plea-bargain talks.

‘Like to Learn More’

“We have entered some discussions,” he said. “I wondered if we could spend 10 minutes out of the presence of the newspapers. I’d like to know more about the open-end (on a possible sentence). I’d like to learn more about your position.”

Tevrizian responded:

“It doesn’t smack of being in the best interests of the public. This is a case charging corruption by a public official. It would look like a secret deal going down.”

Tevrizian added that he gives a “discount” in length of sentence for dispositions in criminal cases, but told Walker it would be impossible to specify a likely sentence for Young if he does plead guilty.

“You’re looking at basically up to a year, but without looking at a probation report, it’s impossible to say. It could be longer. I can’t be pinned down on it,” Tevrizian said.

As Tevrizian pushed lawyers on both sides to tell him if they are planning to go to trial next week, Chief Assistant U.S. Atty. Richard E. Drooyan confirmed that the government has offered Young a chance to plead guilty to four counts of mail fraud.

But Drooyan said the government has refused to enter into any agreement where it would be committed to recommending a specific sentence for Young, who quit the Assembly in 1984 to become a Sacramento lobbyist.

Drooyan said the government plans to present testimony showing a pattern of deception by Young during the early stages of the investigation into his financial links with Moriarty, the Orange County fireworks magnate now serving a seven-year prison term for political corruption.

Noting that Young has been represented by half a dozen lawyers so far in the case, Drooyan said the government would seek to prove that Young provided “false information” to his first lawyer, Ronald Cordova, to unknowingly pass to a newspaper, that he later “altered” some unidentified records turned over to the government and “fabricated” another document completely.

Won’t Plead Guilty

Walker, joined by San Francisco lawyer Alan Dressler, told Tevrizian that he will consult with Young this week about problems in the case and the judge’s “attitude.”

“If by Wednesday nothing is resolved, we will be going to trial,” he told Tevrizian.

Later, outside the courtroom, Walker insisted to reporters that Young will not plead guilty and will be going to trial. He minimized the importance of the government charges that Young doctored documents.

“The U.S. attorney is suggesting a portion of a document has been scratched out,” he said. “There’s obviously an explanation to it. It will come out in the trial.”

Neither Walker nor Drooyan would say what records Young allegedly altered or what document was allegedly fabricated.