Attorneys for Young Told Not to Make Trial a Circus

Lawyers for former Assemblyman Bruce E. Young disclosed on Tuesday a list of 108 possible witnesses--including more than a third of the Legislature and several Orange County figures--in Young’s political corruption trial, prompting a warning from a federal judge against turning the trial into a “circus.”

The witness list, turned over to federal prosecutors by the former Norwalk assemblyman’s attorneys, includes former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles), several Orange County legislators and four investigators with the Orange County district attorney’s office.

The district attorney’s investigators have worked on the investigation of the banking and political activities of former Anaheim fireworks manufacturer W. Patrick Moriarty, who is serving a federal prison sentence for political corruption. They are John Gier, Jerry Hodges, David Monroe and John Walsh.

FBI Agent on List

Also on the list is former Orange County FBI Agent Drew Maconachy, who was with the Federal Bureau of Investigation when the federal government became involved in the Moriarty probe in 1984.

Others from Orange County on the list include lobbyist Frank Michelena; Patrick DiCarlo, a former Moriarty business associate, and former Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove).

The defense witness list, almost three times the number of witnesses scheduled by the prosecution in the case, includes 41 members of the California Legislature and four former members.

Young, 40, a Democratic assemblyman from 1976 to 1984, is charged with failing to report income from Moriarty and from a cable television company in 1981 and 1982 while he crusaded for legislation to benefit the cable television industry and Moriarty’s fireworks company.

One expected theme of his defense is that his actions were no different from those of many Sacramento politicians and that any alleged violations of state political campaign reporting laws were not intentional.

Chief Assistant U.S. Atty. Richard E. Drooyan, protesting the size of the defense witness list, called it a “farce” and said it was so large that it gives the government no idea who Young actually intends to call to testify on his behalf.

“I don’t think this witness list is in good faith,” he told U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian. “What this is is a farce. It’s maybe 5% accurate.”

Tevrizian, responding to Drooyan’s charge that Young’s lawyers had included “virtually every member of the Legislature” on the list, gave the defense 24 hours to explain to the government what testimony might be expected from each of the potential witnesses.

‘Telephone Book’

“When you give a witness list that consists of a telephone book in size, you’re going to have to provide an explanation of what they will testify to,” the judge said.

Tevrizian added:

“If you are going to subpoena every member of the Legislature, you’re going to turn this trial into a circus, and I’m not going to permit that.”

San Francisco lawyer George Walker, representing Young, denied any intention of turning the trial into a circus and promised to comply with the judge’s order. He defended the size of the list.

“I don’t believe we have anyone on the list that Moriarty didn’t refer to in his testimony (on the witness stand last week),” Walker said.

During jury selection last week, Drooyan disclosed that he plans to call Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), Sen. Barry Keene (D-Benicia) and Assemblymen Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles), Richard E. Floyd (D-Hawthorne) and Norman Waters (D-Plymouth).

Drooyan said the list of 37 probable prosecution witnesses also includes former state Sen. Dennis Carpenter (R-Irvine) and former Assemblyman Dennis Mangers (D-Huntington Beach).

Half of Senate

The defense witness list provided to the government Tuesday includes half the state Senate. The 20 senators named include Roberti and Keene along with:

Alfred E. Alquist (D-San Jose), Ruben Ayala (D-Chino), Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach), Daniel E. Boatwright (D-Concord), William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights), William A. Craven (R-Oceanside), Ed Davis (R-Valencia), Ralph C. Dills (D-Gardena), John Doolittle (R-Citrus Heights), Jim Ellis (R-San Diego), James W. Nielson (R-Rohnert Park), Nicholas C. Petris (D-Oakland). Robert Presley (D-Riverside), H. L. Richardson (R-Glendora), Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale), John Seymour (R-Anaheim) and Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles).

Assembly members listed as possible defense witnesses are Brown, Roos, Margolin, Floyd, Waters and 16 others:

Rusty Areias (D-Los Banos), William P. Baker (R-Danville), Tom Bane (D-Tarzana), Tom Bates (D-Oakland), Dennis Brown (R-Signal Hill), William J. Filante (R-Greenbrae), Nolan Frizzelle (R-Huntington Beach), Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge), William H. Lancaster (R-Covina), Bill Leonard (R-Redlands), John R. Lewis (R-Orange), Pat Nolan (R-Glendale), Steve Peace (D-Chula Vista), Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley).

Former Assembly members on the list include, in addition to Robinson, Ernie Konnyu (R-Saratoga), now in Congress, William Bagley (R-San Rafael) and Louis J. Papan (D-Millbrae).

Times staff writer George Frank contributed to this story.